Fire Meet Gasoline
by Duckett-1
Summary: Bucky Barnes, the Winter Soldier, thought he had lost all ability to feel the moment they ripped him apart and put him back together as an assassin. When he found Vira in the Red Room and chose her to be the next Winter Soldier, feelings resurfaced that he never thought possible. Now, Hydra has been dismantled and Vira was still frozen in Siberia, torn from him. Or so he thought.
1. Prologue

**Hi, readers! Thanks for giving this a try! Just a couple pointers—the words at the top in italics are Vira's activation code for the Winter Soldier; this fanfiction takes place in Captain America: Civil War outside of this chapter; and Vira is not my only OC. I'll go more in-depth on her in the next chapter, when she actually appears.**

 **Hope you like!**

* * *

 _Fighting… Abandon… Twenty-Two… Twilight… Thunderstorm… Nine… Silence… Indigo... One… Red…_

 _Soldat?_

 _ **Somewhere in Siberia, 1967**_

Bucky trained violently in the dark corner room where the Hydra agents and Russian guards for the soldiers had set him loose for a sort of private exercise opportunity. He hit the patched and tattered punching bag in front of him with unrestrained force, Vira hadn't come back yet. Three days. She promised, she would only be gone three days. She had been gone a week, and none of the wardens would even bother to tell him if she was dead or not. Why would they? None of them meant anything to the agents and scientists always watching them.

The door behind him opened with the loud squeal of unoiled hinges, and Bucky turned, ready to object as much as he could to his time being restricted, but there were no restrictions. Instead, the person he had been so worried about was standing in the front of the heavy door that started to slide closed.

"Vira," Bucky said in obvious relief.

She was silent, her darker than dark eyes almost wholly emotionless.

"No," he breathed in shock, his bluish eyes wide.

They wiped her again. He didn't know what to do; compared to him, she was rarely wiped, but she was gaining too much emotion, and that was dangerous. Emotions meant morals, and that meant that she wasn't the mindless assassin that they needed her to be. Bucky didn't know how to help her, but he had a feeling that it wouldn't be as easy as using the same tricks that she used on him.

" _Who… Who do you think I am?_ " He asked in hesitant and almost forced Russian. They hardly ever spoke the language barked at them daily, not to one another, and definitely not in private. But it was Vira's mother tongue, and he needed to try everything he could to try and break through to her.

She only narrowed her eyes at him, looking concerned and almost a little suspicious over his sudden interest in her. " _You're the First_." She said simply. " _The original Winter Soldier._ "

" _I'm James_." He insisted, voice tight. " _I'm your James_."

She frowned deeper than her resting face already forced her too - when she was wiped, any trace of her smile, the smile that would light up a room had vanished from her face. " _James… no, you are the Soldier. The first of us, the most obedient. The best._ "

Bucky shook his head. " _You're the best. I am not obedient. Neither are you unless forced, as you are now. Wake up, Vira. Realize this isn't you_."

It was her turn to shake her head, frowning resolutely at him. " _I am a Winter Soldier_." She said sharply. " _We both are. Whoever you think Vira is, she's not me. And you are no longer this James._ "

Bucky scowled at the floor for a moment, letting his dark hair fall in front of his face so he could take a moment to conceal his emotions. When he looked back up, his expression was made of stone. He decided to take another route. " _So be it, soldier. It is time for training. Let me prove what you believe, that I am the superior soldier. After all, you're just a woman_."

Vira tensed all over, almost black eyes glaring daggers at him. " _Just a woman?_ " She repeated slowly.

" _You are a woman_." He insisted. " _And as such, you will always be weak._ "

" _Let me show you just how weak this woman is_." Vira snarled, and in one swift motion, she charged. She leapt at him, long legs locking around his shoulders to sling around her body weight, sending the soldier that was at least double her weight sliding across the floor.

Bucky almost smirked. Although it didn't look like it, he was making progress.

" _That all you've got?_ " He taunted, pushing back to his feet and rolling the shoulder she had thrown him onto. " _Think I haven't been thrown harder by small—_ " He never got a chance to finish, Vira growled at him and rushed forward again. Almost faster than he could keep track of in the shadow filled room, she leapt at him and slammed her entire body against him, her slender shoulder punching hard into his abdomen.

Bucky almost smiled again. He was breaking through, even if it didn't seem like it. Vira wouldn't fight that hard emotionlessly. He was getting her back, even if it was a slow, particularly painful process.

" _Weak willed woman_ ," Bucky spat again. " _Why don't you fight the control placed on you? Prove your strength! Think for yourself_."

Vira let out an almost guttural war cry and lunged at him again. " _I am not weak!_ "

Bucky smirked, making his jaw twitch. " _Show me. Be the woman beneath the machine that those madmen built. Fight their control!_ "

The next time she lunged at him, Bucky was ready. He grabbed her around the waist with both hands, and slammed her into the wall so hard he dented it.

Then he kissed her.

Vira froze, her fingers digging into his shoulders like she was going to push him off of her as Bucky pressed against her.

"Remember the last time I did that?" He asked in soft English, pulling back only enough to whisper the words, their lips still brushing at even the slightest movement.

Vira's hands relaxed slowly against his arms, but every other muscle in her body was still coiled tightly against his hold, against having him pinning her against the cool metal of the wall.

"No." She hissed, but she still wasn't struggling, her knees pressing almost painfully hard into his sides as he held her up.

Bucky raised an eyebrow. "You sure?" He asked almost tauntingly, smirking again, and raising his chin high enough for her to see the slight clenching of his jaw as his expression shifted.

Vira closed her eyes, exhaling sharply. " _I don't… what's happening? I… I think I remember. At least some things. I remember our…_ James? Did they…?" Her last questions fell into whispers of English, which couldn't have made Bucky happier.

He smiled, almost laughing. "I'm here." He cupped her cheek in his flesh hand, resting his forehead against hers, letting her slide back to the floor. "You're back. I could've done without the beating, but at least it was effective."

"You asked for it." She reminded softly, one of her hands reaching up to twist in his hair and keep him close to her as she tried to piece together the flood of memories. "At least I didn't dislocate your jaw this time."

Bucky smiled faintly and rubbed the rough, scruffy side of his jaw against her cheek like an over-affectionate tiger.

She smiled and nuzzled her face into her the bend of his neck. "How long was I gone? I did promise you I'd be back, didn't I?"

"Doesn't matter," Bucky assured, holding her around the torso gently. "You're here now. As long as you always come back to me."


	2. Chapter 1

**Hey lovely readers! Thanks for giving this a try.** **There are two OC characters in the story: BuckyxOC and StevexOC. Vira is for Bucky, as you've already discovered, and Aurora who is for Steve. Aurora is a little different: she's the little sister of Bruce Banner, and her grandmother is an OC character that I made for the forties. Her grandmother (Lucille, who will be mentioned later) started dating Steve when he was still skinny!Steve. She and Peggy were BFF's, and Aurora looks almost the exact same, just has heterochromic eyes. She's enhanced—has the same abilities as Wanda, but stronger + telepathy.**

 **Hope this clears up the chapter for you!**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 _ **Bucharest, 2016**_

Bucky stood in the street, jaw-length hair tucked behind his ears as a hoodie and long-sleeved red shirt covered his metal arm, a hat shielding his eyes and helping conceal his identity.

"How much for the plums?" He asked the vendor, holding a plum up in his flesh hand.

Before the vendor could answer, Bucky caught sight of a small, fuzzy TV screen that spoke in the country's native language. "… _the bomber has been identified as James Buchanan Barnes, a Hydra assassin also known as the Winter Soldier, credited with over fifty kills in the last seventy years…_ "

Bucky put the plums down and adjusted his backpack on his shoulder again, keeping his head down so he could avoid the gazes of any possible bystanders that had heard the news of the bombing that killed the Wakandan King.

He hadn't managed to go more that a couple blocks before he glanced to the left, feeling eyes on him and catching a nearby newsstand owner looking slowly between him and a grainy photograph of him apparently fleeing the scene of the UN. Bucky was gone before the man could sound the alarm, caching the side of a passing van to take him another block before he rolled off and stepped easily into the stream of people beside him.

The Winter Soldier hunched his shoulders a little further around his torso, ducking his head low when he felt yet another pair of eyes burning into his back. He didn't dare turn to make sure they really were staring at him, only sped up his steps and tried to take the fastest route back to his apartment.

He had to get to the journals, to his memories… to all he had left of her.

He wasn't there very long as he gathered his few belongings into his backpack before two people entered—two people that he vaguely remembered. They fought against him in Washington, DC. The woman… he remembered her mismatched eyes just before he… he almost killed her. The man… he was the one that kept trying to get him to remember himself. He was the man that Bucky pulled out of the Potomac—not the Winter Soldier. Bucky pulled him out of the river. But he didn't know why.

"Aurora," the man in blue—Steve, Bucky suddenly remembered—said as he looked around the room, shield on his arm. "Anything?"

"He's here," she assured, sliding through in normal clothes—jeans, and a brown leather jacket over a tee with some nerdish design that Bucky couldn't place. Something in the many years he couldn't recall, he figured.

Aurora turned and looked right at Bucky, her brown-green heterochromic eyes meeting his for a moment, but she said nothing.

Steve turned just a half-second later, stopping when he saw Bucky. "Do you know who I am?"

"You're Steve," Bucky said slowly, "I read about you in a museum." He looked at Aurora. "You look like the woman in the picture with him—Lucille."

Aurora glanced at Steve, whose jaw tightened for a moment before he regained whatever composure he might've lost.

"Why'd you pull us out of the river?" Steve asked Bucky after he had gotten past the mention of Lucille.

"I don't know." Bucky said gruffly, looking away from them and trying to find his best exit strategy.

Steve glanced at Aurora before looking back at Bucky. "Yes you do."

Bucky eased a step backwards, metal hand curled tightly around the strap of his backpack as the sound of dozens of booted feet pounded up the stairs.

"There are people coming for you, with orders to kill. We're here to help you, Sgt. Barnes," Aurora said softly.

His jaw ticked at the title he hadn't heard in almost seventy-five years. "I can handle myself."

They had found him, and the people charging up the narrow stairs to his apartment wouldn't be nearly as calm as the blonde man standing in front of him.

He was trapped, fighting to keep his breathing even and still as he felt his freedom slipping away again. He couldn't be caged again, couldn't be trapped after so long of tasting freedom again.

"This doesn't have to end in a fight, Buck." Steve assured softly, trying to take a step closer to him.

"It always ends in a fight." Bucky countered softly, almost tiredly.

Despite the tone of the Winter Soldier, the moment his apartment went under siege, he and Steve slipped almost effortlessly into a kind of teamwork as the first wave hit—but only for that long, as soon as the first half a dozen men were subdued, Bucky snatched his bag hidden under the floorboards and dashed towards the still blocked door, where the remaining men were swarming inside.

"Buck, stop!" Steve shouted, starting after him. "You're gonna kill someone."

"I'm not going to kill anyone." Bucky promised over his shoulder before feeling the crunch of a man's nose breaking under his elbow as he slammed his arm into his face to move the officer out of his way.

All he could think about was getting out, the evacuation plan he had run through in his head dozens of times while living in the small building.

 _Left down the stairs._

He threw a man over the iron handrail on the way down.

 _Right down the next landing._

Another's head through a wall.

As he finally turned to the hall he needed, he could hear Steve behind him, shouting for him to stop, to wait. He didn't even slow down—couldn't afford to—five more steps and Bucky jumped, throwing his metal shoulder against the tall window just in front of him.

"Buck!" Steve called as he and his S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent girlfriend fought through the forces coming after the Winter Soldier.

Bucky landed in a tumble on the gravelly roof of the next building over. He rolled back to his feet, grabbing the fallen bag again and starting to run as fast as he could across the roof.

He was almost to the next one before he was tackled to the gravel again by a figure clad in solid black, like… a cat?

"What the⎯?" Bucky started quietly, but was cut off by the lunging figure slashing at him with razor-like metal claws. He clamped his mouth shut and scrambled out of the way, bluish eyes wide.

Suddenly, another figure dropped behind the man in black, but Bucky was too distracted by the attacker to register anything besides the fact that they were also clad in black.

The cat-man turned around to see what was behind him, growling something in a language that Bucky couldn't register just before he took the opportunity to lunge, almost like he was defending his prey.

The figure seemed to be expecting it; they ducked beneath the lunge and slid over the gravel, somehow managing not to tear the knees out of their black pants, and hurling the attacker to an inverted position as they slung his ankle into the air.

 _Talk about tipsy_. Bucky thought, ready to thank the mysterious figure before he registered who it really was. Obviously female, with obsidian glass eyes, the blacker than black hair that was braided back from her face, the mask, and the black Kevlar clothes… Vira.

His eyes went wide, and he opened his mouth to say something to her, but when she looked at him and he saw her eyes⎯flat and nearly emotionless⎯he knew that it wasn't his Vira. He was the mission of a Winter Soldier, and he knew that it meant he had to get out of there. Now.

He stumbled backwards to his feet, away from her and never turning his back on the Soldier until he was far enough away to dash across the gravel, leaping down to the highway tunnel below without second thought. Vira couldn't catch him, he wouldn't let them make her kill him, he couldn't do that to her.

She wasn't giving him much of an option though. He looked over his shoulder, seeing that, not only was Vira was following him, but so were the cat-man, and Captain America and his partner. His partner seemed to be the only person struggling to keep up. So she stole a motorcycle. Not a bad plan…

He didn't look back at them again, he was too determined to just get as far away from the two people hunting him as possible. Leading the line of enhanced beings through the traffic filled tunnel, Bucky tried everything he could to get an advantage, leaping over cars, swerving in and out of the approaching vehicles, and eventually stealing a motorcycle.

Knocking the driver off of the bike, Bucky quickly pulled himself onto it and lurched forward with his faster than ever evasion.

"James!" Vira called as she blasted past the man in black. She had to reach him. He wasn't safe, and she knew that he didn't believe that she was only there to find him. That was her mission, not to harm him.

His head whipped around to look at her, but he never stopped. He didn't trust her, but he thought he might have a way get her to stop. The very thought caused him pain, but it might be the only way to stop her. " _Abandon!_ " He shouted quickly in Russian, waiting for any response from her. " _Twilight! Thunderstorm!_ "

Vira started to slow for a moment, shaking her head slowly before she forced herself to press on. "James, please!" She called toward him, "trust me!"

He froze for a second, motorcycle almost slipping out of his control as she shouted for him. For him, _her_ James, in English.

Bucky was looking back at her for too long, their eyes meeting across the growing distance before he was slammed into yet again by the man in black, and the both of them were sent skidding across the pavement as the high speed chase came to a sudden hault.

Vira skidded to a stop right beside them, standing before Bucky with her back to him, separating him from his attacker.

"Vira," Bucky warned, "careful."

She said nothing, pulling a carbon fiber knife and spinning it in her hand as she glared around the mask. Usually, if the mask was on, the Winter Soldier couldn't speak. Apparently, she had removed the gag. He gasped quickly, watching the cat-man stand with claws extended and his glare focused on the female Winter Soldier. "Vira, run." Bucky whispered.

"No." She finally spoke, her voice quiet as she settled the knife into her grip, feet sliding into a more stable position. Her left just slightly behind her right, ready to launch herself at the black clad man.

"Buck!" Steve called anxiously, rushing onto the scene with his girlfriend that wasn't Lucille close behind. They managed to position themselves between Bucky and the cat, but Captain America kept the brunette woman close behind him instead of facing the knife wielding Winter Soldier.

Then a man in a metal suit landed before them, placing them under arrest. And Vira was gone.

Bucky forced himself not to fight his way out and search for her, and the cat-man lifted his mask, revealing the newly crowned King of Wakanda, T'Challa.

"Your Highness," the man in the metal suit greeted before he looked at Steve and his girlfriend, and then his flying friend that landed just after they arrived. "Captain, you're under arrest."

Aurora—he remembered, the name finally coming to him—tilted her head slightly, and the man in the suit made a pained noise.

"Come on, Aurora," he grumbled. "I'm just doing my job."

"Don't give me that," she snapped. "I haven't had the best week so far, Rhodey, and this isn't helping."

Steve took her hand gently.

Rhodey—the metal suited man—sighed behind the mask. "Shoulda thought of that before."

"Well, I was trying to make sure someone's week was better than mine, so, why don't we change the subject?"

Rhodey shut up.

"Aurora," Steve chided softly.

She sighed. "That wasn't on purpose. Let's just get this over with."

A few minutes later, Steve, Aurora, and Sam—the friend with metal wings—were all shoved into the backseat of a car, King T'Challa placed in the front.

Bucky was restrained and then contained in a large glass box, and shipped to the same secure facility the others were. He didn't struggle. Not that time. It would only end badly for him, all of this would always end badly for him. And he deserved it. All the blood that had been spilled by his hands… he was too dangerous alone. At least that's what the whispers confirmed.

"So, you like cats?" Sam asked T'Challa.

"Sam," Steve chided, shaking his head.

"What? Man shows up in a cat suit and you don't want to know?"

Aurora snorted.

"The Black Panther has been the protector of Wakanda for generations. Now, thanks to your friend, I now wear that and the mantle of King. So tell me, Captain; how long do you think you can keep your friend safe from me?" T'Challa asked coldly.


	3. Chapter 2

**_Secure Facility, Unknown, 2016_**

Vira watched with only the quickest flash of pain behind her dark eyes as she watched James submitting to the people dragging him into the cage. He was a fighter, always had been, but he went willingly with them. He might have remembered, but he had still forgotten himself.

As the armored truck pulled away, she dashed quickly after it, staying hidden in the shadows and high above the look of the surveillance following the heavily guarded transport.

When the truck arrived, she knew it wouldn't be too long before something happened. All those enhanced people together in one place? Things were almost guaranteed to get messy. All she had to do was bide her time until she could get James out or he got himself out.

She waited on the roof, on a helicopter landing pad, taking a screened wristband to hack into their security feeds, mask off and resting beside her as she watched the picture switch almost lazily between rooms until it finally flicked to a slightly blurry view of a heavily restrained James.

She waited until her security feed went black, and she slid her mask back on, hopping to her feet. Something bad was about to happen.

* * *

Aurora sat beside Steve while Tony did his best to make peace, listening to what was happening below, the psychiatrist and Bucky, while everyone watched on the screen. She wanted to know what he was feeling. Usually she asked permission, but she had no such luxury this time.

" _James?" The psychiatrist asked. "Why won't you answer me?"_

 _"My name is Bucky," the Winter Soldier said almost monotonously. "Only one person calls me James, and it's not you."_

 _"I see. Well, Sgt. Barnes, you've done some horrible things in your life, haven't you?"_

 _"I don't wanna talk about it." His voice revealed more emotion in that statement, almost like it cracked._

 _"We just have to talk about one."_

The power through the building went black. Everyone seemed to jump out of their skin. Aurora ignored the sudden and impending chaos to continue listening to what was happening so many floors down.

"Longing…" _The obviously not real psychiatrist said in practiced Russian_. "Rusted…"

" _No," Bucky almost begged, rising slowly to his feet after ripping free the restraints holding his arms and confining him to the chair. "Please, no."_

"Seventeen… Daybreak... Furnace…"

 _"No!" Bucky shouted, his metal arm starting to repeatedly punch the glass confining him. Even the bulletproof glass wasn't able to hold up against the repeated assaults of his metal arm_.

Aurora could sense Bucky's mind slipping, the slow blackness starting from the very depth forcing it's way to the front, consuming and shattering everything in it's path. Neither Steve or Tony noticed in the darkened room as she pressed a hand over her mouth, stifling a gasp as she literally watched Bucky's mind torn apart by the deliberately spoken words.

"Nine… Benign… Homecoming… One… Freight car…"

 _Bucky let out one last guttural cry before he broke free from the glass cage, and stepped forward to stand before the man who had claimed to be the psychiatrist. He stood there, completely still._

" _Soldat?" The man asked, and Bucky's mindless stare flicked up at him._

 _The Winter Soldier spoke in monotonous Russian. "_ Ready to comply _."_

" _Mission report: December 16, 1991."_

Aurora bolted from the room that had been her prison as alarms wailed.

"Aurora!" Steve called, catching her arm just after she exited the door. "What's going on?"

She said nothing, just grabbed Steve's arm in a vice grip and let what she just saw⎯and was still witnessing⎯fill his mind.

"Oh my God," Steve breathed, eyes wide.

"Yeah," Aurora said sharply before both she and Steve bolted to stop the rampaging WInter Soldier. She and Steve split off, Aurora meeting Natasha to fight with the Widow if Bucky got past Steve. Not if, when.

And that came sooner than expected, Steve apparently not willing to try and harm Bucky as he stormed by him, but the Winter Soldier seemed just as willing as any assassin to attack the two agents waiting for him.

Aurora lunged first, dodging the harder swings he tried to land before she kicked up her leg and locked it around his shoulder so she could swing her other to knock him to the ground by an intense weight shift. Bucky caught her, and flung her into multiple flips until she crashed through a table.

Natasha jumped in from there, landing a hard knee to his sternum.

Bucky grabbed her and walked her toward a table as she slammed elbow after elbow into his head. It made no difference, and Bucky slammed her onto the table strangling her with his metal arm.

"You could at least recognize me," Natasha gagged and gasped out around the choking force.

Aurora got back to her feet and shoved with brilliant blue energy, sending the Winter Soldier flying backwards. She bolted after the Soldier, who fought his way past King T'Challa again to the helipad on the roof.

* * *

Vira was waiting for the Winter Soldier, and as James finally reached the landing on the roof, she halted his advance with a hard, unexpected blow to the side of his head.

Bucky stumbled to the side, nearly falling to the landing pad. He regained his bearings and looked to the masked female assassin with a sharp glare.

Vira hated that look being directed at her, but she couldn't let it affect her emotions. She had to stop him, wake up the man inside. She knew how, but this was worse than it used to be, the man beneath the Soldier seemed to be buried deep, so she had to subdue him first.

Too bad she wasn't working at it alone.

Captain Rogers and his mutant girlfriend were there, trying to catch the soldier themselves.

Vira knew they didn't have a chance, but if she was going to have any hope at breaking through, she was going to have to stop them as well.

She let out an exasperated snarl, shoving back James and glaring at the two others that did nothing but get in her way.

"Leave." Vira ordered lowly, her back still to the Winter Soldier as she stood threateningly in front of Captain America. "You'll only make things worse." She insisted as James recovered from her shove and turned to the waiting helicopter.

The blonde man narrowed his bright blue eyes at her before glancing towards James and rushing after him.

" _No!_ " Vira snapped, unintentionally slipping back into her native language of Russian.

James froze behind her, like he was awaiting orders.

Captain Rogers glared. "How can you help?" He all but demanded, "you're just like him."

His girlfriend looked at Vira for a moment. "Steve," she said softly. "She's right."

Captain Rogers blinked in shock.

James took the opportunity to bolt for the helicopter.

Vira growled frustratedly before she bolted after him.

"James!" She shouted, managing to leap effortlessly onto one of the landing skids as the helicopter lifted off from the helipad. "Stop." She tried in firm Russian.

Bucky hesitated just long enough that Steve took an opportunity to grab onto one of the skids himself, trying to force the helicopter back down to the landing platform.

"Steve!" The brunette woman called, and Aurora suddenly did something that Vira didn't think was possible, even after the footage she'd seen of her fighting.

Blue energy cocooned around the helicopter as Steve pulled on it just enough to keep it at bay, but Aurora's power forced it down to the landing pad as the enhanced being let out a short cry from her tense effort, nearly hitting her knees to keep the helicopter in place, but Steve hit the platform hard and her concentration slipped.

The helicopter jerked wildly to the left and Vira was nearly thrown off in the same jerking motion, the avian machine turning sharply to the side by Steve still pulling down with most of his weight. The tail rotor caught the edge of the platform and flew off, nearly hitting both the Captain and his partner.

The enhanced agent hurled up a shield of blue energy, and the rotor bounced off of it to fall off the platform.

Vira rushed to the wreckage of the helicopter to dig out James. He has to be okay, he has to be okay.

"James!" She called almost frantically before cursing. He wouldn't recognize that. " _Soldier?_ " She corrected in Russian. " _SPUTNIK!_ "

There was a thud and the metallic ring of his arm hitting the other debris. She rushed to that spot and quickly dug, pulling up everything she could until she found him, or rather, found his hoodie and pulled him out with the strength a woman of her size shouldn't have possessed.

"James," she whispered again, kneeling beside him. "Soldier, wake up."

James shook his head rather violently, his eyes dilating as he tried desperately to regain himself. "Vira…?" He asked slowly, wavering like he was half-conscious. He fell out of consciousness after moments, and he slid out of the helicopter and off the landing pad.

Vira leapt in after him, the enhanced agent holding back Captain Rogers from doing the same.

She evacuated James to somewhere safe—somewhere that, until he fully remembered, he couldn't hurt anyone.


	4. Chapter 3

**_Abandoned Warehouse, 2016_**

Bucky blinked slowly to awareness, his head throbbing and eyes trying to focus on the dark figure in front of him. He tried to straighten, only to realize his left arm was trapped up to the bicep in a large magnetic press. There was no real pressure, but the magnetic force was enough to keep him well and immobile.

"Don't pull too hard or you'll hurt yourself." A soft feminine voice called, drawing closer.

"Vira?" He asked in confusion, mind still violently dropping between shattered emotions and his objective. Her lithe form was still hopelessly hazy, limbs blurred and face unreadable as she stopped in front of him.

"You know who I am?" She asked emotionlessly, but some part of his mind nagged at him that that was wrong, that she wasn't so cold.

"Vira—Soldat." He corrected quickly as her hand lifted to his face. _He wasn't malfunctioning. He was a good soldier. Obedient. He wouldn't be wiped again. Have to remember…_ He had no idea what it was he was supposed to remember, but he knew he couldn't forget whatever it was that was trying to fight its way to the front of his mind.

She knelt in front of him, her mask off and black hair braided out of her face. "James," she said softly, gingerly cupping his face in a hand covered in a half-fingered glove. "Relax. I won't hurt you. Just remember."

She was making it a point to speak in English, hoping that it would help him remember. "Do you know who I am, James? Do you know who you are?" Her voice was softer this time than the first time she asked him that question.

He hesitated for a long moment, blue eyes still slightly unfocused and clearly trying to get his mind back into any sort of personal order. "You're the girl I trained in the Red Room." He spoke slowly, unsurely, still trying to piece the confusing images and orders together. "You're Vira." He said after another long pause, the muscles in his neck tensed like he was fighting not to lean into her hand.

"And who are you?" She asked gently, slipping from a crouch to sit on her knees in front of him, dark eyes trailing on him softly. Her hand slid away from his face for a moment, almost to his neck before her fingers were no longer touching any part of his skin.

"I'm…I'm Bucky." He answered, still speaking like every response was a question. "James." He amended when he looked back at the assassin's dark eyes that seemed to be pleading with him for any kind of response that didn't have to do with Hydra or Winter Soldiers.

She nodded. "You are. Anything else you'd like to say?"

He started to shake his head, darkened eyes looking away from her for a moment. "I didn't think you'd make it back this time." He whispered just above a breath.

"I'll always come back." She promised, lifting a hand to his face again. He leaned quickly into her touch that time, eyes slowly falling closed.

"I thought it was over." He whispered. "And all he had to do was say the—"

"I know." Vira assured, softly tracing his jaw. "How much do you remember?"

"About me or what I did?" James asked almost bitterly.

"Both," she said gently, "but I can assume that you remember at least part of what you have done, or you wouldn't be using that tone with me." She raised an eyebrow of accusation.

James sighed, looking at her apologetically. "I'm sorry." He whispered, lifting his remaining flesh arm to gently trace just the tips of his middle and index fingers against the brand on her temple.

Vira took a slow breath, leaning into his touch and smiling faintly as he cupped her cheek.

"I remember you." He assured quietly, managing a small smile at her and brushing his thumb lightly under her dark eyes. "And I remember—" He cut off abruptly, Vira rising to her feet in one smooth motion at the sounds of approaching footsteps outside.

Three sets of footsteps, Vira told herself as she stepped back to hide in the shadows. Two of the heavier than the other—two men and a woman.

Her training never let her relax. She slipped her mask back on and disappeared, even from James.

He had a quick moment of panic, but he knew she hadn't left him. Not alone like this. And he couldn't blame her for running either, he had heard the steps almost as clearly as she had and—if he had any choice—he wouldn't want to hang around either.

So he fell as limp as he could against the machine holding him, better to let whoever it was think he had been here alone for hours, awaiting whatever fate this would be. Not that Vira was pressed into the shadows less than fifteen feet from him.

"He's here," Steve's partner, Aurora said softly, mismatched eyes flicking around the room.

Bucky had another moment of panic. _She knew Vira was there_.

Aurora sent him a reassuring glance, and Bucky suddenly felt strangely violated and protected at the same time. Then a voice that wasn't his echoed in his head.

 _It's okay_ , Aurora's soft voice said without her speaking. _I won't tell Steve or Sam unless she wants me to_.

Bucky nodded slightly before he looked at Steve.

"Which Bucky am I talking to?" Steve asked in a quiet but firm tone.

"Your name's Steve," Bucky said slowly as more memories slowly returned. "Your mom's name was Sarah, and you used to put newspapers in your shoes." He laughed a little at the end of his statement.

Steve smiled slightly, and glanced at Aurora.

She nodded slightly at Steve, smiling a little herself.

He looked at her like he was making sure she would be okay before he stepped back with Sam to whisper about what to do with Bucky now that he—and all of them—were wanted criminals.

Aurora watched Bucky carefully, monitoring the second Winter Soldier's thoughts before she knelt in front of Bucky herself. "What did Zemo want from you?" She asked softly.

He shook his head. "He wanted to know where I was kept. In Siberia, exactly where."

"Why?" Aurora asked softly, looking confused.

"There are more Soldiers than just me and Vira." He whispered.

Without meaning to, Aurora was sucked into the incomplete memories Bucky had of the early 1990's, of five new Soldiers being injected with a replica of the Super Soldier serum used on Steve.

Aurora seemed to stop breathing, and Bucky counted how long it was before she recovered. One… two… Three… four…

He got to twelve before she looked back at him with her mismatched eyes. "You and Vira aren't serum-enhanced, but Hydra wanted to make the others stronger?" She whispered in question. "I don't get it. It only made them volatile, and even more dangerous than you and Vira already were."

Bucky nodded slowly. "And Vira and I trained them. They took me down pretty quickly after learning the basics. Vira was always too fast for them to catch. She never learned how to pull her punches."

Aurora smiled slightly. "Sounds like my kind of woman."

Bucky snorted. "You might scare Steve half to death if the two of you were to meet." He said with a small chuckle, trying not to glance back at where he could almost sense Vira moving in the shadows as Steve stepped forward again.

He looked at Aurora and she suddenly nodded, looking up at him reassuringly and the Captain quickly started to free Bucky from the magnetic press still keeping him trapped.

Bucky rolled his metal shoulder, stepping away to swing his arm, regaining motion. "Vira," he called quietly, "they're on our side."

Vira stepped out, face still covered with a mask. Her branded temple was covered by her mask. She said nothing, just looked warily at the others in the warehouse. She glanced at Bucky.

" _Can I take this off?_ " She asked in her native Russian, starting for her mask.

Bucky nodded, and Vira pulled her mask off.

Aurora looked as Vira pulled her mask off, and suddenly felt self-conscious. Vira was the most beautiful woman she'd ever seen, and she spent every day with Natasha Romanoff.

She was tall, with at least two inches over Aurora herself, who usually wasn't considered short at her five foot seven inches, and possibly even leaner with muscle. Her long black hair was braided, shorter layers of her hair hanging in her face from where they'd fallen from her braid. Obsidian glass eyes that shimmered with every reflection of light they caught. Her olive toned skin and sharply angled facial features were obviously Eastern European, but there was one flaw—one flaw that made her so obviously human: a star-shaped brand on her left temple, the same side as Bucky's metal arm. It didn't harm her beauty at all, in fact, it might've made her even more beautiful. It made her more real.

"Captain," Vira said with a slight nod, and a soft, barely accented voice.

"Soldier," Steve replied, and Aurora realized he didn't know her name. He hadn't been listening to Aurora's quiet conversation with Bucky, so he didn't hear. He'd been talking to Sam.

The female Winter Soldier turned her gaze downward for a moment. "I would prefer it if you call me Vira, Captain Rogers."

Steve nodded slightly. "Yes, ma'am. Then call me Steve."

Vira let a slight smile upturn her lips. "Captain seems to be a better fit for the situation we've all gotten ourselves into."

Steve snorted. "Can't say I don't agree to that."

Vira looked at Sam, and they introduced themselves before Aurora turned back to Bucky. "You should tell them."

Bucky hesitated.

"Tell us what?" Steve asked, suddenly concerned.

"What the fake psychiatrist wanted," Bucky said shortly, looking at Aurora. "What did you call him? Zemo?"

Aurora nodded. "That's what I picked up."

It was Vira's turn to look concerned. "He wanted something? More than just the Soldier? You didn't mention anything." She said, frowning toward Bucky.

"In my defense, I was a little concerned with, you know, _not_ killing you."

She was still frowning. "I can handle myself, James. What did he want?"

" _The other soldiers_ ," Bucky finally admitted in Russian to try and give them some form of privacy, looking down.

Vira paled.

"What did he say?" Sam asked, looking between the two women that obviously understood him.

"Zemo wanted to know about the others." Aurora explained, closing her heterochromic green and brown eyes.

"Others?" Steve asked, tone and expression concerned.

Vira raised a thin, dark eyebrow. "You didn't honestly think James and I were the only Winter Soldiers, did you?"

"Honestly I was surprised to hear about even you." Steve sighed.

"There are seriously more of you?" Sam asked with a shocked expression.

"Five." Bucky sighed. "And the only one who could even try and challenge them was Vira." He said with a glance over at the other soldier standing stoically near him.

She shook her head slightly. "I couldn't take all five at once. I barely survived against two. One of them… it was like he was already enhanced before the serum, and it only made him more dangerous. These bedamned monsters could bring down countries overnight."

Bucky nodded in agreement. "They could speak thirty languages, hide in plain sight. Honestly, if he wakes them up… Well, we're gonna need all the help we can get."

Aurora looked at Bucky. "Can I show them?"

"How?" He asked warily.

She held out her hand.

Bucky looked at Steve nervously.

The Captain nodded reassuringly.

Bucky slowly held out his flesh hand, letting Aurora set her own against his palm. He gasped and Vira lurched forward nervously, but she kept her distance, stoic once again as she watched James's face scrunch as memories were undoubtedly drawn to the surface.

Aurora opened her eyes and glanced at Steve, holding out her other hand to no one in particular. The memories flooded all of them at once, and Vira cringed at the memories.

All of them watched the memories in their heads in shock.

 _Vira stood in front of the Winter Soldier handler as Bucky trained one of the serum-enhanced soldiers._

 _He grabbed Bucky's metal arm in a moment of distraction as the first soldier glanced at Vira's stoic expression. The enhanced twisted, and there was a popping sound, pain spiking through the shining metal arm._

"Well done," _the handler said in fluent Russian. The new soldier looked around for a moment, and then unexpectedly hurled another violent punch, not toward Bucky, but toward the guards._

 _Vira lunged, blocking the soldier's assault from anyone else._

 _"_ Get me out of here! _" The handler snapped as chaos erupted, and the five other soldiers exploded into violent action._

 _Bucky stepped in front of their handler and fended off any attacking soldiers with his metal arm._

 _Vira held off two of them alone; the largest and the only other female. Even Bucky couldn't fight more than one on an even playing field. She was faster than they could ever consider being, but their combined strength was too much, and after their handler was evacuated, Vira had to flee as well, far from unscathed. But neither were the other two soldiers._

 _She'd broken the female's arm and sternum, and had her bleeding from her nose. The male's mouth was stained red, with a sharply dislocated hip and adjacent shoulder._

 _Vira was cradling a blackened wrist, blood streaming down her lip as she finally fled_.

Aurora gasped when she finally let the memory go, and Bucky instinctively caught the collapsing agent. He steadied her and handed her back to Steve.

"See?" Bucky said after a moment.

Aurora noticed the scar on Vira's lip, and leaned heavily on Steve.

The Captain looped his fingers through hers, silent as he pressed his lips to the top of Aurora's head and pondered what they had all just witnessed.

"Wow," Sam said softly, shaking his head like he was trying to clear the memories from his own mind. "And that was just training?"

Bucky nodded stiffly, still looking a little frazzled over the memories and detail Aurora was able to pull up from him. "And now this… Zemo is going to wake them up." He said gruffly, trying to be subtle about rolling his shoulder and glancing worriedly at Vira.

The named assassin touched her lip absentmindedly, like she vaguely remembered how she'd gotten the scar, but couldn't place it exactly until then.

Aurora had unintentionally given some of their lives, some of their identities, back to them.

"How do we find Zemo?" Sam spoke up after long moments of silence.

"He's probably already on his way to Siberia." Bucky said slowly, looking at the three members of team America standing in front of him. He eased a step closer to Vira, light eyes cutting quickly over to look at her while the others spoke quietly once more.

"Then that's where we're going." Steve said quickly, breaking the subtle little moment between the assassins as they both turned back to him.

"I'll go make those calls." Sam promised, stepping off to the side as Steve softly made sure Aurora could still stand on her own before he kissed her quickly, taking a step back himself as Aurora nodded up at him.

"I'll see what I can do about getting our stuff back," Aurora said, starting for the warehouse exit. "I'll meet you somewhere with them."

"Where?" Steve asked after a nod.

"You'll get the picture."

Steve smiled. "Yes ma'am."

"And, Steve," she said just before she left. "Try not to draw too much attention."

He snorted, smiling, and Aurora disappeared.


	5. Chapter 4

**_Germany, 2016_**

Aurora waited outside a white sedan, their weapons in the trunk that she leaned against. Her arms were crossed over her chest.

 _Almost here?_ She asked Steve, who was driving himself, Sam, and Bucky. Vira hadn't accompanied them. She promised to meet them later.

 _Close. Three, four minutes_. He replied, and she could feel the awkwardness of the car ride through Steve. Thanks to Sam and Bucky, the cramped car ride was getting even worse as the held a silent "I'm more of Steve's best friend than you are" argument.

 _Good. Try not to let those two kill each other, alright?_

She could almost hear Steve snorting. I make no promises if Sam scoots his seat back anymore.

Aurora shook her head and softly withdrew a bit from Steve's mind and the tension in the car as she waited for them to arrive. When they finally did get there, she could have died laughing at the car she saw Steve Rogers crammed into.

He, Bucky and Sam had all managed to fit into a small, dark blue bug that looked like it shouldn't have even fit her, let alone three very fit grown men.

"That your idea of a getaway car?" She asked as Steve stepped closer to her, trying to keep from laughing at him.

"See, there's a reason I didn't let you know what car I picked." He sighed, shaking his head, but she could feel his own humor at the situation leaking through the mental bond. "It's low profile." He insisted, finally stopping his slow advance to make sure she still had plenty of room to open the trunk.

Aurora nodded, turning away from him to unlock the trunk. "Oh, it's low something." She agreed with a teasing smile over her shoulder before stepping to the side to reveal Steve's shield and Sam's wings.

The captain rolled his eyes at her, stepping forward until he was standing right beside her and their gear. _Thank you_. He said with a silent whisper, gently taking her hand in his own.

She smiled. _You should show your appreciation. You haven't shown it in a while_.

Steve grinned quickly back at her. _Yes, ma'am_. He agreed, happily taking her by the waist to gently pull her closer, pressing his lips against her's in an easily reciprocated kiss.

She pulled away after a moment, smiling slightly. _We're being watched._

Steve chuckled and shook his head, kissing her quickly one more time. _Can't really blame them, can you?_

 _Considering you're a cradle robber?_ Aurora asked with a smile up at him, her hands resting softly on his shoulders. _No_.

 _You're older than me!_ Steve complained with an outward smile.

 _Mm, not technically. Only physically. I'll meet you in a few minutes_ , she promised, _make them stop. Especially Sam; he's seen it_.

Steve nodded, smiling at her before he quickly scooped up their gear and stepped back towards the bug. "I'll make sure they behave." He promised, winking at her before she slid back into her own car.

He turned to see both boys in the bug looking at him in approval, Bucky even nodding slightly while he smiled.

Steve rolled his eyes, smiling slightly as he got back into the bug. "Is Vira meeting us somewhere?"

"She didn't say," Bucky said simply. "But I'm assuming we'll see her at least one more time before we meet her to make our way to Siberia."

Steve nodded.

"So, where are we headed now?" Sam asked, leaning partially against the door.

"We're meeting Clint and Wanda. They've got a new recruit for us." Steve explained, waiting a few moments before starting the ignition and driving off after Aurora. "You should be proud, Sam. Took your advice."

"Who is it?" Sam asked in surprise.


	6. Chapter 5

**_Parking deck, Germany, 2016_**

Steve pulled up to find Aurora already waiting against the hood of her white sedan, holding a butterfly knife that she was flicking around.

"Don't cut yourself," Steve said with a smile as he slid out of the bug.

She rolled her eyes. "If you'd have gotten here quicker, I wouldn't have gotten it out."

He grinned for a moment and kissed her temple. "I didn't realize that your boredom makes you play with dangerous objects."

She snorted. "Fair enough."

Steve smiled before he turned to Clint, who stood with Wanda beside a white van. "How's our new recruit?"

He nodded and tapped the sliding door three times. "Put some coffee in him and he'll be great." He promised as a groggy man sat up in the backseat, blinking slowly.

"What timezone are we in?"

Steve smiled slightly and shook his head, still standing close to Aurora. The woman was leaning partially against him with her eyes closed, trying not to snoop and still not being completely able to ignore the thoughts of the others around her.

"Oh, wow…" Scott said as he climbed from the van. "You're Captain America." He said with an awed look and a long, excited handshake.

"Mr. Lang," Steve greeted.

"I'm shaking your hand too long," he said before he finally let go, hesitating a moment before he squeezed him around the shoulders.

Scott smiled a little wider before glancing at Aurora and grinning a little wider. "I know you too. You're awesome."

Aurora smiled before she froze, hurling her knife into shadows past Bucky.

"Aurora!" Steve snapped, eyes wide. She didn't do that without a reason, but it wasn't a normal thing for her. "What was that?"

A figure walked from the shadows; a tall female with a dark, Eastern European complexion, but most of her face was concealed. Vira. She was holding the knife Aurora had hurled, liked she'd caught it out of the air. She probably had.

She slid the mask off and flicked the knife closed, tossing it back to Aurora, who snatched it out of the air.

Vira slid her mask off. "I'm shocked you didn't know that was me."

"I didn't check," Aurora said simply, shrugging.

Vira raised an eyebrow, almost smirking. "Fair enough. I wouldn't have either."

Clint raised an eyebrow. "And this is…?"

Steve recovered quickly. "Clint, Wanda, this is Vira. She's Bucky's partner—another Winter Soldier."

"There's more than one?" Clint asked in shock.

"Five, actually," Vira said, "not counting James and I."

Bucky blushed, and Steve forced down a smile, raising an eyebrow at him, with a clear expression that read _James?_

Bucky shot him a rude gesture behind the door of the bug he stood behind.

Steve chuckled lightly and held up his hands in a truce as Bucky moved to stand close, but not next to Vira, whose dark eyes had gained just a twinge of humor at the friends interaction.

"Great." Clint grumbled. "Five more of you?"

"I didn't say this would be easy." Steve reminded simply. "And you don't have to come with us, just know that the minute you step out there, you're fugitives." He said evenly, looking around at all of them—even Aurora—to make sure they really wanted to go up against Tony.

"Yeah, well what else is new?" Scott asked with a small shrug and Steve nodded, looking back at everyone again with a bit more hope in his eyes.

"Suit up."


	7. Chapter 6

**_Airport, Germany, 2016_**

"You sure your first move should be to walk out there alone, Steve?" Aurora asked warily, her expression concerned.

Steve smiled. "I'll be fine."

"Yeah? You told everyone else their place, so where do you want me?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. Her brunette waves were pulled back, but that didn't stop the shorter pieces from falling messily into her face. Her clothes were normal-ish. Not quite the same kind of suit as Natasha's—Aurora's was two-piece, with gray pants, and had a long sleeved, belted jacket—but like it, it was solid and flexible. The pants were cargo, not quite as form-fitting, and her hands were covered in half-fingered gloves. She was ready for a fight, just like the others, even if Steve didn't want her in the thick of it.

"You sure you want to help me with this?" Steve asked for the one-billionth time. "I know how close you and Tony are. I don't wanna jeopardize that."

"We're already on opposite sides." Aurora said softly. "So I might as well fight for something I believe in, with someone I love."

Steve bent down and kissed her softly. "I love you too." He whispered when he pulled away, both of them close enough for their noses to still touch.

"You still haven't answered me," Aurora said softly as the two pulled away a little further apart. "Where do you want me?"

 _Right there is just fine._ She heard him think, and she instantly raised an eyebrow in challenge.

"Steve Rogers, I am not going to stand back here." She said firmly. "So tell me where to go that I'll actually be useful or you'll wish you had seen real insubordination in the army." She said with an air of finality.

Steve sighed, running a quick hand through his still exposed blonde hair. "Watch my six?"

"I do that anyway, Steve."

"Stay with Buck and Vira." He sighed at last. "They're the ones everyone's trying to go after."

"Even with Sam with them?" Aurora asked. "Are you sure you don't want me with you?"

"'Course I want you with me," Steve said, shaking his head. "But I'm trying to figure out where you'll be the most helpful."

"Everyone else is partnered, Steve, or in threes. Let me go with you." Aurora tried softly. "I know you have Scott, but let me help."

He finally nodded, setting his forehead quickly against her's. "Okay." He agreed at last. _But I know you did some sort of mind trick on me._

Aurora rolled her eyes. "I did not." She insisted, frowning.

Steve smiled at her and kissed her once more before they started walking again. "I never said I didn't like it." He assured.

"Whoa, man, you wanna talk about something?" Sam asked with a teasing smile from behind Steve.

"Not with you."

Aurora smiled. "Let's just get ready to finish this." She paused for a moment and looked around. "Where's Vira?"

Bucky looked down. "She's still going with us, but… let's just say she's going about it a little differently."

Steve frowned in concern. "Like how?"

"She didn't tell me," Bucky replied shortly, but it was pretty obvious he knew anyway.

"Buck," Steve said in a warning tone. "We gotta know."

"Call her a double agent." The Winter Soldier said simply, and that was enough to get the point across.

"She's helping Tony, _and_ helping us?" Clint asked in shock. "How?"

"Her mission was to find me," Bucky explained, "she succeeded, but they don't know that. So she'll 'help' them at the same time as she tries to keep King T'Challa from ripping my head off my shoulders."

"Seems like a reasonable plan." Scott agreed.

"Then let's get started," Steve said with a nod, and everyone split off.

Steve and Aurora started across the runway with Scott shrunken on his shield. Tony landed in front of them and cut them off.

"Tony," Steve started slowly, standing just in front of Aurora. "Don't do this." He requested as Natasha, T'Challa, Rhodey and Vision all filed in behind Iron Man.

"Wow," Tony said like he hadn't heard. "Isn't it just so weird how you run into people at the airport? Don't you feel weird?" He asked, turning to Rhodey.

"Definitely weird." War Machine agreed as Steve finally stopped walking.

"Tony," Aurora started, trying to get him to see some sort of reason other than Bucky being a serial killer. "Hear us out."

"The doctor," Steve picked up easily. "The psychiatrist, he's behind all of this." The Captain insisted, taking just a step to the side like Aurora would be able to convince Tony much faster than he could.

"Anyway," He interrupted her as she tried to explain everything Steve just told him. "Ross gave me thirty-six hours to bring you in, that was twenty-four hours ago." Tony said simply and "I'm just trying to keep you from tearing the Avengers apart," Tony said, shaking his head.

Steve sighed. "You did that when you signed."

Vira dropped in behind T'Challa, masked again.

"You know what, I'm getting tired of this," Tony said, cupping hands around his mouth as he called, "under-rouse!"

A figure in a skin-tight red and blue suit leapt overhead, confining Steve's hands with strange webbing, and ripping Aurora's weapon off of her hip.

Steve stepped quickly in front of Aurora again.

"You're after the wrong guy." Aurora tried to insist, listening to Bucky's increasingly panicking thoughts. He and Sam were across the airport, inside a terminal, waiting for their signal to get moving.

"And we should just take your word for it?" Tony asked her. "How do we know that you're not playing with our minds?"

Aurora looked offended. "I have never toyed with your mind, Tony. I don't plan on starting now. But I'm getting tired of this," she said with a frown. She looked at Steve. "Ready to give the signal?"

"Anytime." Steve replied. "Scott."

Ant-Man grew to his human size again, kicking the spider-boy in the face as he took the shield and landed beside Steve again, who raised his arms just as an arrow sailed through the webbing that confined Steve's hands.

"I believe this is yours, Captain America," Scott said as he handed the shield back to Steve.

"You know what, guys?" Aurora said with a smirk, looking at Tony's assembled enhanced beings. "I think it's time to kick things up a notch." She waved one hand almost flourishingly, and blue energy sent the Tony, Rhodey, and Vision tumbling through the air.

"Whoa!" Spider-Man said in shock, the white angled lenses of his mask widening. He shot webbing forward to almost soar through the air.

Aurora waved a hand and almost slapped him out of the air with a wave of energy.

She lost focus when Natasha bolted toward her and tackled her.

"Really, Nat?" Aurora said with a frown. "Gonna shock me?"

"You know I want us on the same side," Natasha said almost sadly, her cuffs buzzing with electricity.

Aurora shoved her foot into Natasha's sternum, and the Black Widow shot backwards. Aurora kicked herself back to her feet. "Then you should've chosen differently."

The telepath stood to watch Spider-Man jump into the terminal where Bucky and Sam were running, T'Challa rushing for Steve.

Aurora stood up straight just to have a barrage of bullets from Rhodey's suit headed straight forward. She hurled up a shield of blue energy. "Come on, man!" She complained, sending a shockwave that turned him end over end. "That was uncalled for."

* * *

Vira was rushing after the Black Panther. She had to beat him to James, or neither he nor Sam had any chance of survival.

Steve had, luckily, cut off the Wakandan King, and was holding him off, but the spiderling wasn't wasting any time either.

He swung in through the glass outer wall of the terminal and slammed feet-first into Sam.

James swung his metal arm, and Spider-Man blocked it, holding it off. "You have a metal arm? That's so cool, man!"

James expression shifted to shock, and Vira knew exactly what he was thinking— _This is just a kid?!_

Vira leapt, colliding with James in a dropkick that sent them both tumbling to the lower platforms.

He pushed back to his hands, almost overtop Vira as he looked over his shoulder in shock at the kid in the red suit swinging towards him.

"James," Vira hissed quickly. "James, move." She said, finally giving him one good shove to roll him off her.

He still wasn't moving quickly enough, he was fully defensive, almost on the retreat away from the boy. She saw the look in his eyes, he wasn't going to hurt him, he wasn't even going to fully try to defend himself.

So it was a good thing Sam was there. He flew and trucked Spider-Man, knocking him out of the way.

Vira turned back toward James, and punched him in the nose. " _Stop hesitating. Defend yourself!_ " She snapped in furious Russian.

" _He's a child!_ " He shouted in protest, holding his nose and Vira watched Peter stop mid-swing to stare at them.

"Oh wow, wow, are… are you two having an argument? Need some room? I can-uh-go…?"

" _Who can catch your arm._ " She snarled, twisting his left—metal—wrist quickly. " _You won't break him._ "

She let go of James with a near violent shove and he stumbled back. " _I'm not supposed to be on your side. So stop making me save your ass!_ "

She kicked hard and fast, pulling back just enough to keep from hurting him too seriously, but he fell off balance.

" _Vira!_ " He blocked her next flurry of blows. " _Stop! I think you're playing the part well enough. Did I seriously piss you off that bad?_ "

" _I'm trying to make you fight, James!_ " Vira said exasperatedly. " _So why don't you?_ "

She ducked his next swing, and Spider-Man pinned down his metal arm.

"You tricked me!" James complained, looking almost offended.

She raised an eyebrow, smirking. "You should've expected it." And she left with the spiderling.

"Your girlfriend's an—" Sam started.

James cut him off as he slid a knife that Vira had slipped into his back pocket into his hand, slicing the webbing. "You were saying?"

* * *

"I thought it was a water truck…" Scott said in shock as a gas tanker exploded over Team Iron Man.

Steve pushed Scott quickly to the other side of the airstrip, looking almost desperately around for Aurora as the others picked up their strength of attack.

 _Not good._

He nearly stopped running when he spotted Aurora, but Spider-Man was starting after him again.

She was taking on Tony and Vision at the same time, managing to use her power to hold them off at once. Not that it was easy.

Steve looked back at the kid quickly before he hurled his shield back at the teen, trying to slow him down as the others fought their own battles.

"That thing does not obey the laws of physics at all!" Spider-Man shouted as he ducked.

"Look, kid," Steve started as he caught the shield easily on his arm. "There's a lot going on here that you don't understand."

"Mr. Stark said you'd say that." The teen agreed causally. "He also said to go for your legs."

And just like that, Steve was jerked onto his back by a strong pull of webbing. When Steve got back to his feet and ran for his shield, Spider-Man shot webbing that wrapped around his hands, and he pulled backwards.

Steve pulled back, jerking forward and leaping into the air, spinning in the air until his hands were free and the teen was all tied up. "Did he tell you anything else about me?"

"He said you were wrong, and you think you're right, and that makes you dangerous." Spider-Man was standing beneath a plane connector, hooked into the terminal.

Steve shrugged slightly after picking up his shield. "Guess he was right." He hurled his shield at the plane terminal connector, and it fell on the kid.

He caught it, holding it up.

Steve smiled slightly as he slid his shield back on his arm. "You got heart, kid. Where you from?"

"Queens," he said in a shaky tone.

Steve smiled a little wider. "Brooklyn." And then he turned to run off.

"Everybody, that's our ride." Clint announced as a quinjet landed in one of the nearby hangars.

 _Steve_. Aurora said after only a few seconds, not giving him any time to say anything to the others. _Steve, we're not all going to make that._

 _Yes, we—_

 _You know that's not true._ Aurora insisted, mental tone softening just slightly. _You have to get Bucky out of here._

 _I'm not leaving you._ Steve said before she had even finished. _I'm not leaving any of you._ He vowed, even as Sam told him the same thing over comms.

Not all of them were going to make it, and it would be a whole lot easier to cover for two than for all of them to try and rush Tony's forces.

"Sam's right," Clint said as he and Wanda fought through. "For us to win this, some of us are gonna have to lose."

"We need a distraction—something big enough so that they won't miss Vira slipping out with you," Aurora said as she held off a repulsor blast from Tony's suit.

"I've got something big," Scott offered, "but I can't hold it very long. So when you see the signal, run like hell. And if I tear myself in half, don't come back for me."

"This guy's gonna tear himself in half?" Bucky asked in concern and disbelief.

Steve chuckled a bit and looked back over his shoulder at Bucky as Scott ran forward and hit a button on his suit. He grabbed Rhodey by the foot, laughing maniacally.

"Oh! Tiny dude is big now! He's big now!" Rhodey said in shock.

Aurora laughed.

"I guess that's the signal," Steve commented before he and Bucky bolted, the Winter Soldier hesitating when he saw Vira.

Vision shot a laser from the gem in his forehead, and it brought down a watchtower.

"Wanda!" Aurora called, and the Sokovian nodded.

Their blue and red powers melded, and purple energy held up the crumbling tower.

 _Now, Vira!_ Aurora called to the female soldier, though Steve heard it through their constant connection. _Go!_

Vira nodded and ran after Bucky and Steve.

Seeing her dash forward got Bucky moving again, and he kept easy pace with Steve as they ran towards the slowly falling tower. Not even Aurora and Wanda combined could totally stop it, not unless Aurora unleashed her full power and lost control of herself, but Aurora was only holding it up as long as she needed to. Only long enough for Steve and the Winter Soldiers to make it through.

 _Aurora—_

 _Steve, don't. Just don't._ She said tensely, mental voice wavering and quiet with her concentration on the tower. _You need to get Zemo. I'll be fine._

The three were almost there when Wanda was incapacitated by Vision, and the energy faded to blue. Aurora had to hold it up on her own.

She let out a groan of such sharp effort that it almost sounded like she was in labor. And they were almost out, almost to the Quinjet, and Aurora cried out in pain. Rhodey electrocuted her.

She fell, and Tony caught her, laying her down gently before he shot into the sky again.

Sam was chasing Rhodey as he and Tony pursued the quinjet in retaliation for the still unconscious Aurora as she laid on the tarmac.


	8. Chapter 7

_**Quinjet, Over Russia, 2016**_

Steve had felt only the end of the pain that coursed through Aurora at the airport, and by the time he had it was too late to go and get her. He spent the whole start of the flight waiting for her to wake up, for any response from her. He barely paid Bucky and Vira any attention, too concerned with the unresponsive telepath.

"I don't think we're worth all this, Steve," Bucky finally said, which caught the captain's attention. "Especially not the war you just started."

"We never meant to put your friends in danger," Vira added quietly.

"They knew what they signed up for," Steve said as calmly as he could manage, trying to reassure them.

"It seems that way," Vira replied, "but I'm afraid, Captain Rogers, that you don't."

Steve looked back at her in shock. "What's that supposed to mean? I know why I came here, and I know what we're up against."

"I'm not trying to offend you, Captain," Vira said softly, "but I fear we'll all soon be outmatched."

Steve seemed a little more hesitant by the seemingly undefeatable Vira telling him the odds were stacked even against her _and_ Bucky over what would happen once they landed.


	9. Chapter 8

_**Siberia, 2016**_

Steve was standing tensely as the ramp dropped slowly down into the freezing Siberian landscape. There was still no response from Aurora, he could feel just the faintest bit of the bright energy twisting around the back of his mind where there connection usually sang strong. She was alive, but wasn't using any of her powers. Not even enough to tell him if she was alright.

There was only a moment of hesitation before Steve looked back at Bucky, they had to focus on possibly saving the world. The Winter Soldiers couldn't be allowed to roam free.

Bucky stood stiffly, metal fingers flexing around his gun as he looked at Vira rather than his best friend.

They both had thought they escaped, that they were free of all this. Or at least, Bucky had, Vira hadn't been away long enough, had woken up in the very same cryotank they had locked her in almost twenty years before less than a week ago.

She looked up at him with calming, reassuring gaze before she nodded him toward Steve.

Bucky kissed her temple before he moved toward Steve. "You remember that time we blew all our train money in Coney Island, and had to hitch a ride on the back of a milk truck to get back?"

Steve looked down and smiled. "You had to win a prize for your date."

"Yeah, the redhead. What was her name again?"

"Dolores. You called her Dot."

Bucky shook his head. "She's gotta be a hundred years old by now."

Steve clapped a hand on his shoulder. "So are we, pal."

They stepped onto the frozen ground, all three instantly on high alert as they started for the open metal door to the bunker.


	10. Chapter 9

_**The Raft, 2016**_

Aurora had felt Steve at the back of her mind the moment she woke up in a small room, but she kept him out, couldn't let him know what was happening to her. If he knew she had been tossed severely into a room in a straightjacket, unable to catch herself and unable to use her powers thanks to the tight shock collar around her neck…

He had to stop the Winter Soldiers, she was unimportant, and if he knew about what was happening to her and the others. Steve was the kind of man to sacrifice a mission for the sake of his team, sacrifice himself to get both done, and she could not let that happen.

She didn't know how long she had been there, there were no clocks and she couldn't even catch any wandering thoughts without potentially being shocked, just knew that every minute she stayed there, Steve was closer and closer to Siberia.

When the doors slid open and she found Tony walking inside, he froze at the sight of her and Wanda.

"Oh my God, Aurora," he said with a sigh. "I didn't know they'd do this to you."

She didn't speak, only glared, but it seemed like someone thought she was trying to hurt Tony, and her shock collar went off.

Aurora gasped, trembling as volts of electricity coursed through her body.

"Stop!" Tony shouted up towards the nearest camera. "Turn it off!" He yelled, much more angrily and Aurora slumped as much as she could when the electricity stopped.

Sam and Clint were both pressed against the glass shielded bars of their cells, each glowering at Tony as he tried to get Aurora to look at him.

She only turned her back on him and leaned against the wall, trying to recover from the shock and keep her mental walls raised from Steve.

* * *

Tony took a small step back, turning slowly from her to walk by the other cells until he was in front of Clint's, who applauded. "Look everybody! The futurist is here! He sees all. He knows what's best for you, whether you like it or not."

"Gimme a break, Barton," Tony said, "I didn't know they'd put you here."

"Yeah, well you knew they'd put us somewhere, Tony."

"Yeah, but not here. This is a place for maniacs, for—"

"Criminals?" Clint snapped. "I think that's the word you're looking for. It didn't used to mean me, or Wanda, or Sam, and definitely not Aurora. She interned at your company for God's sake, before she joined the army and then S.H.I.E.L.D. because she wanted to make a difference in the world, and she had the ability to. Now look at where you've put her."

"That isn't my fault. You broke the law. You take the consequences." Tony walked away from Clint's cell.

"Better watch your back with this guy," Clint called, slamming his hands against the bulletproof glass. "There's a chance he's gonna break it!"

Tony looked down for a moment before he reached Sam's cell.

"How's Rhodes?" The Falcon asked once he made sure Aurora was just ignoring Stark and hadn't been seriously hurt.

"Well, they're flying him to a new hospital tomorrow, so, fingers crossed." Tony said shortly. "You need anything? Did they feed you yet?"

"Oh, so you're the good cop now?" Sam snapped.

"I just need to know where Steve and Barnes went."

Sam snorted. "Well, you better go get a bad cop. Because you're gonna have to go all Mark Furman on my ass to get that information out of me."

Tony clicked a few buttons on his watch. "I just knocked the _A_ out of their AV." He pulled up a picture of a cadaver. "See that? That's the guy that was actually supposed to question Barnes. I just wanna go to talk—to _help_. You know they need all the help they can get."

Sam sighed. "Alright, I'll tell you. But you have to go as a friend, and take a friend with you."

"Sold. I can bust you out."

"Not me, you moron." Sam snorted. "Your best bargaining chip with Steve is the woman you just got electrocuted. Better knock the _V_ out of their AV too."

Tony looked back at Aurora and hit a few more buttons. "Friday, on my cue."

* * *

"Stark, did he give you anything on Rogers?" Ross asked as Tony used every bit of his restraint to walk at a semi normal pace.

"No, he told me to go to hell." He lied flatly, not even looking back as he made it to the helicopter. "I'm going back to the compound instead. But, you can call me anytime." He promised as he stepped inside, holding the door open for a long moment. "I'll put you on hold, I like to watch the line blink." He winked and finally closed the door.

"Stark!"

He slid the helicopter door shut. "Aurora," he asked quietly, "did you make it inside?"

"Aurora?" He asked again when there was no response, reaching out in the dark cabin as the aircraft rose. "A—" He cut off as he accidentally hit her in the nose.

"Yeah. Right here. But you couldn't have waited until we were actually off the Raft to abuse me, Tony?" She reappeared again, looking tired as she rubbed around her neck, where the collar was.

"I'm sorry!" He said quickly. "I didn't mean to."

Aurora almost smiled. "I know, Tony. Let's just get to Siberia, okay?" She asked, rapidly losing her fire.

"Friday, get me a care package?" Tony asked as he slowly scooted forward, looking at Aurora like she was a wounded animal that might bite if he got too close. "Can I take that off?" He asked looking to the collar he hadn't gotten a chance to remove.

The straight jacket was gone, but she was still wearing the tight shock collar and the blue clothes the others had been wearing, and if Tony brought her to Steve looking like that—might not be all that easy to negotiate.

She hesitated before she nodded. "Got my other clothes?"

Tony nodded. "Change fast. We'll have to ditch the helicopter soon."

Aurora nodded. She knew what Tony meant by that, and she couldn't say she liked it.


	11. Chapter 10

**_Abandoned Hydra Base, Siberia, 2016_**

Steve, Bucky and Vira moved cautiously through the compound, the Soldiers moving as one unit through the darkened and dusty halls. There was no sign of Zemo yet, but they knew he was there.

They had barely started into a new chamber when loud footsteps sounded behind them. All three turned at once, Steve kneeling in front with Bucky then Vira behind him, each with a gun over the shoulder of the person in front.

When Tony pushed his way through the dismantled elevator shaft, Steve started to inch toward slowly, shield raised to defend himself just in case Tony wasn't there as a friendly.

The billionaire raised his hands in a show of good faith.

"Cap, you seem a little defensive."

"Well, it's been a long day." The Captain said simply, both men still slowly walking towards each other.

"At ease, soldiers, I'm not currently after you."

"Then why are you here?" Steve replied.

"Well," Tony started, "Ross doesn't know I'm here, and I'd like to keep it that way. Plus, if I have to arrest myself, I'd have to return my present."

"Sounds like a lot of paperwork," Steve replied sharply. "What present?"

Tony turned around and looked at the elevator he shoved open. "Are you just gonna leave me here to drown?"

Whoever he was talking to stepped out, raising an eyebrow as she replied, "I don't know. I kinda wanted to see if you could handle the sharks on your own."

Steve froze when he saw the present.

Aurora looked over at Steve and smiled. "Hey."

He was gaping, frozen behind his shield for a long moment. She looked fine, besides the black eye that she suffered from thanks to T'Challa. Steve dropped his shield and rushed her, grabbing her as tightly as he could without breaking her.

I couldn't hear you, Steve thought in near panic as he squeezed her tightly. Why couldn't I hear you?

Doesn't matter, Aurora assured, hugging him just as tightly with her face buried in his shoulder. I'm okay. Tony got me out. Nothing else is gonna happen to me. He's on our side.

Bucky and Vira were still standing with weapons raised, pointed at Tony with deadly accuracy.

"Manchurian candidates, you're killing me, this is a truce here." Tony said exasperatedly.

Bucky looked over his shoulder at Vira without moving his gun.

She nodded quickly at him and slowly they lowered their weapons, but neither of them relaxed as Tony stood awkwardly in the middle of the Soldiers and the reunion on the other side of the room.

They walked through, Aurora careful not to touch anything for fear of the memories that would be brought with them.

She didn't need to really touch anything though, Bucky's thoughts screamed loudly enough that she knew exactly what had happened through most of the underground compound.

As they passed by a dented wall, the telepath was assaulted by the memories of a very… close encounter between Bucky and Vira. And Bucky wasn't the only one projecting his thoughts of the time the Soldiers spent there.

Steve looked over at her with a raised eyebrow as she almost choked, Bucky flushed a deep red beside her and Vira looked over in mild surprise before smirking at the still furiously blushing male Soldier.

"Buck?" Steve asked softly and he quickly waved Captain America off.

"I'm fine." He promised, voice just slightly more gruff than usual.

Steve nodded slowly but no one missed the obvious hole in the floor less than a twenty feet ahead.

"What the…?" Aurora knelt slowly down to it, reaching for the jagged edges of the scooped out section of floor. She didn't even have time to question it, the memories surged up at her with such power that she gasped and fell back onto her butt as soon as her fingers had even brushed the floor near the hole.

* * *

 _Vira sat proudly on top of James, dark eyes twinkling as she braced her hands against his shoulders._

 _"Thought you could beat me? When will you learn, James?"_

 _"Maybe when I stop losing like this." He countered, hands trailing softly along her waist, the fingers of his right hand slipping under just the edge of her shirt._

 _Vira raised an eyebrow, settling more of her weight onto James rather than her knees on either side of his torso. "You don't think you just lost?"_

 _"I can't say I'm too upset by it." He admitted._

 _Vira frowned. "Were you even trying?"_

 _"Yes…"_

 _"Liar." She accused, whispering the word and grabbing his wrists as she leaned forward, taking his arms with her until they were pressed down by his sides, just outside of her legs. "Try now. Don't move." She ordered._

 _"Don't move?" James chuckled. "What sort of challenge is that?"_

 _Vira smirked at him and wriggled a little further back before quickly pressing her lips against the bottom of his jaw and agonizingly working her way down, kissing, biting, sometimes just hovering there to make him wait with her soft, warm breaths traveling lightly over his skin._

 _James tensed underneath her, perfectly still until there was a high whine of the stress in metal joints before the crumbling of rock. Vira glanced over to watch his left hand taking up a fistful of the concrete and quickly turning it to dust._

 _She waited only a few seconds longer to torture him, watching the way he had his eyes tightly closed and both his hands in fists, breath coming raggedly through his nose._

 _"Move."_

* * *

"Aurora?" Steve called, kneeling beside her with worried and slightly dilated blue eyes. If he had gotten any of that she couldn't blame him, her face was hot and both the Winter Soldiers managed to look sheepish enough, though Vira's was more of a smug smirk towards Bucky.

"Did you see that too?" Aurora asked, looking back to Steve.

Steve nodded. "Yep."

She looked sheepish. "Sorry."

Steve shuddered. "I never needed to see that."

Bucky looked pointedly away from all of them while Vira just looked like the very proud cat who had just eaten the very fat canary.

Tony shook his head. "Do I even want to know?"

"Probably not." Steve said softly, helping Aurora back to her feet before they kept moving.

They walked into the central room, seeing five tanks with bodies inside.

"We got heat signatures," Tony told them.

"How many?" Aurora asked as she opened her mind more fully to her power and to her surroundings.

Steve took comfort in that, at least as much as he could at the time.

"Um, one," Tony answered, though he almost sounded confused about it.

"If it's any comfort," a voice said through a crackling intercom as all five fully entered the room. "They died in their sleep."

Vira and Bucky neared cryo-tanks on two opposite sides and saw a single bullet hole in each.

Vira's dark eyes met his from across the room.

"Did you really think I wanted more of you?" The male voice asked again, an obvious and familiar Eastern European voice becoming clearer over the intercom.

Zemo, Aurora thought to all of them, glancing around as blue energy dropped from her fingers.

"What the hell?" Bucky breathed as he shifted the butt of his gun to his left shoulder.

"I am grateful for them, though," Zemo's voice echoed. "They brought you here."

Zemo suddenly became visible behind a metal door opposite the room they were in.

Steve saw him and hurled his shield. It only bounced back to him.

Zemo tisked. "Please, Captain. The Soviets built this chamber to withstand the blasts of UR one-hundred rockets."

"I'm betting I could beat that," Tony called, "and I'm betting there's someone else here that could, too."

"Oh, I'm sure you could, Mister Stark. Given time." Zemo replied. "But who else has that firepower?"

Aurora shoved forward a blast of powerful blue energy. It dented the blast door separating Zemo and the approaching five.

Zemo laughed. "Very impressive. But if you take it down, you'll never know why you came."

"You killed innocent people in Vienna just to bring us here?" Steve said coldly, marching forward to stand before the small glass window in the blast door.

"I've thought about nothing else for over a year," Zemo replied, his voice so scratchy it sounded like it was about to break. "I've studied you, I've followed you, but now that you're standing here I just realized…" He paused for a long moment, studying Steve so closely it made Aurora uncomfortable. "…there's a bit of green in the blue of your eyes. How nice to find a flaw."

"You're Sokovian," Aurora pointed out as she stepped closer to Steve.

"Is that what this is about?" He asked, never taking his eyes off of Zemo.

"Sokovia was a failed state long before you blew it to hell," Zemo told them simply. "No. I'm here because I made a promise."

"You lost someone," Steve's voice was softer.

Zemo swallowed hard. "I lost everyone. And so will you." He picked up a remote and pointed it at an old television, turning it on.

Aurora glanced at it first, and read the Russian print in black and white. It was a date; _December 16, 1991_.

"An empire toppled by its enemies can rise again," Zemo said simply, "but one that crumbles from within, that's dead."


	12. Chapter 11

_**The War**_

All of them turned toward the screen, except James. It seemed that Vira was the only one that noticed. She knew what it was the moment she saw the date, just like James did. The day he was sent to retrieve the formulas for the new Winter Soldiers. The day he destroyed the last people to know James Buchanan Barnes, or at least that was what they thought at the time.

Vira stepped partially toward James as she watched the three Avengers watch the black and white security tapes.

She saw Tony flinch dramatically.

James slowly started to lower his weapon, almost trembling.

Vira dropped her own enough to place a comforting hand on his shoulder. "It wasn't your fault, James. It wasn't."

"That doesn't change anything," he whispered in reply.

"That changes everything." She insisted softly.

* * *

Aurora couldn't imagine how Tony felt; she was trembling at the video as well, even if it was for separate reasons. She knew the Winter Soldier was a dangerous assassin, but she never imagined him to be that brutal, and he stabbed her through the chest with a long knife in Washington, D.C.

Tony started to lunge for Bucky, and Steve grabbed his shoulder.

"No, wait, Tony!" He said in quiet desperation.

Aurora looked at Bucky and saw tears in his eyes as he jumped back to defend himself.

Vira stepped forward to protect him, her jaw clenching and unclenching as she seemed to wait for Tony to attack.

"Did you know?" Tony asked as he trembled, looking at Steve with dark eyes that couldn't be explained with any expression other than angry.

"I didn't know it was him—" Steve started before Tony cut him off.

"Don't bullshit me, Rogers. Did you know?" He hissed through gritted teeth.

"Yes," Steve admitted after long hesitation.

He looked down quickly, trembling even worse than before before his head snapped back up alongside his hand, and he knocked Steve off his feet.

"Steve!" Aurora called quickly before redirecting her attention to Tony and stepping in front of him. "Tony, please. Don't do this."

"Did you know too?" He snapped at her, refraining from moving forward for a moment. "Did you know?!"

"Yeah," she answered simply. "And it's not his fault."

"Not his—not his fault? He killed my parents!" He took a violently trembling breath, his voice shaking with rage. "Get out of my way."

"I can't let you do this, Tony," Aurora said simply.

"I said move, Aurora!" He demanded.

She could see how much he didn't want to hurt her again while she could feel his rage, but the platonic love he felt for the S.H.I.E.L.D agent standing before him almost had him hesitating.

"No," Aurora refused in a soft tone.

"I'm sorry," he said quietly before he swung and sent her flying into the back wall. He rushed toward Bucky.

Vira intercepted him, the female Winter Soldier shoving him away from Bucky with one violent kick to his metal plated chest.

Bucky raised his gun, and Tony blasted it from his hand.

Vira rushed forward again with a cry, attacking Tony head-on until he blasted his repulsors and slammed her into the wall.

He aimed a repulsor on his hand toward her face, and she narrowly dodged it, the heat off the blast burning her left cheekbone, just beneath the starburst burn scar.

Bucky rushed for him then. The Soldier swung a hard punch with his metal arm, which Tony was only able to catch because of his suit.

Tony dropped his hand, and before Bucky could react, Tony grasped him around the throat. He shot through the air and slammed Bucky into the ground, pinning down his metal arm and aiming a repulsor at his forehead.

Steve hurled his shield and knocked Tony's repulsor away from Bucky's face, blasting a hole in the concrete floor.

Tony whirled as Steve ran in and landed a dropkick to knock Iron Man off of the Winter Soldier.

Tony shot back forward and knocked Steve backwards, pinning his legs together with a restraint from his suit.

Aurora caught him with a wave of her hand, and Tony froze in blue energy as he started back toward Bucky. She hurled him to the other side of the room.

She held him in place as long as she could through his struggling and without losing total control of her powers.

"Let go!" Tony shouted at her, firing two small missiles in her direction to force her to defend herself or get hurt and drop her shields around him anyway.

She unfortunately chose the latter, and was blasted backward into the wall with burns on her arms and a bleeding forehead from her impact on the wall.

She rushed to help free Steve as Vira joined the fight once again.

Bucky slammed an uppercut into Tony's masked chin with his metal fist, ducking as Vira leapt and slammed her foot into the side of Tony's helmet so hard it dented and disrupted the vision.

Tony blasted Vira backwards before she could land. He lifted Bucky and flew him into the wall, pinning him there and aiming his repulsors at his face a second time.

Bucky grabbed Tony's hand in his metal one and forcibly turned it around, crushing the repulsor beneath his fingers.

Tony turned missiles on him next, and Aurora jerked Tony's hand the opposite direction with her telekinetic blue energy, and the missiles hit a cryogenic tank, bringing down a large portion of the building structure with it.

Everyone hit the ground hard, and Vira scrambled away from the falling tank. She reached Bucky's side as he fell, helping him to his feet.

Steve and Aurora stood next to one another on the other side of the rubble.

"Get outta here!" Steve ordered both of them, and the two Soldiers obeyed.

Tony flew forward and fired at Bucky, but Vira jerked him down and behind concrete rubble.

Steve cut off Tony, Aurora behind the man in the metal suit as Steve said, "It wasn't him, Tony."

"Move!" Tony ordered.

"Hydra had control of his mind!" Steve tried again.

Aurora froze Tony in place again, and Steve slammed his shield into the repulsor on his boot until Tony almost fell out of the air.

* * *

Bucky slammed his flesh fist into the panel to open the large doors above himself and Vira.

"Go, James!" She ordered, practically boosting him up on her own.

"Not without you," he said quickly, looking down at her with almost desperate blue eyes.

"I'll be right behind you. Go!"

His jaw tightened as he jumped from level to level, Vira just behind him.

She was on his heels the whole time, until Tony broke away from Steve and Aurora, rising up after the Winter Soldiers on unsteady repulsors as they tried to escape through the open hatch at the top of the facility.

"James!" Vira called in warning just before a blast shot past his shoulders he dropped back down a level at her shout, nearly landing on top of her. "James?"

"I'm fine." He assured gruffly, almost breathless from his drop before he pulled her up by the arm to the next level, a sense of panic invading the both of them as they tried to race towards the still open roof.

They were too slow though, Tony shot out the gears holding the large circular door open, nearly crushing their fingers until Vira pulled herself and James back, the large man landing on top of her on the grated catwalks below them.

She grunted at the weight, but neither of them had time to worry about falling when Tony was flying back to their level again.

He was suddenly trapped in blue energy again, and Aurora seemed to be straining so violently to hold Tony's repulsors on full power that blood dripped from her nose.

"Aurora," He called through gritted teeth around his still open mask as Bucky tried to push Vira back down before Tony freed himself from the telepath's hold.

"Go." He ordered quickly, trying to push her down in front of him at the same time that Vira attempted to pull him with her.

"Not without you."

"Right behind you." He promised softly.

* * *

Steve caught up to Aurora quickly. "We have to get up there."

She hesitated again before looking back up. "I've got an idea. Get to Bucky."

"Aurora, I can't jump that—"

"I'll give you a boost," She assured quickly, "and you can take down Tony once you get up there. Call it a distraction so they can get out."

Steve nodded. "Good plan. On three…"

"One…" Aurora started, holding Tony with blue power in one hand as blood continued to trickle from her nose at the stress she was holding herself under to contain her powers and still restrain Tony. She let power flow from her other hand as she prepared to shove Steve into the air.

"Two…" Steve said as he backed away, preparing for a running start, glancing almost worriedly at Aurora as she desperately tried to contain herself. He had never seen her lose control, and she had only done so once, but he was positive that now was not a good situation for it to happen a second time.

" _Three!_ " They called together.

Aurora dropped Tony and hurled Steve upward with energy from both hands.

Steve put up his shield and slammed into Tony before the man in the metal suit could start forward again.

Tony bounced off the wall and Steve landed on a level near Bucky. He got back up and helped the two Winter Soldiers to the next level.

"He's not gonna stop," Steve said almost breathlessly, looking back and forth between the two assassins. "You've got to get out of here."

Bucky nodded and started upward again with a small boost from Vira.

Vira started to follow until Steve put a hand on her shoulder, and she paused. "Keep him safe," he said quietly.

Vira nodded. "Always." And she started up too.

Steve pulled a cord out of his belt and jumped off the level he was on, tossing it to wrap it around Tony's throat and taking him down with a sharp jerk toward the ground.

Aurora scrambled out of the way of the toppling heroes.

Tony and Steve both collided with different levels, and Tony pushed himself back up as quickly as he could, trying to target the climbing assassins.

"Targeting system's knackered, boss," Friday said in Tony's ear, which Aurora heard clearer than anyone except Tony possibly could. Maybe it was because she was in Tony's head, trying desperately not to use her last resort—suggestive mind altering.

"Screw it, I'm eyeballing it." Tony said as he opened his helmet, aiming down his arm to hit the hinge holding open the large door with a missile.

"Vira!" Bucky called in a panic, jerking her down from where she had gotten ahead of him and was almost crushed by the door.

Tony shot upward.

Bucky swung a pipe with a low growl, trying to keep him away from Vira as the female soldier almost struggled to get back up. When Bucky swung again, Tony caught it.

He grabbed the Soldier again, holding him as tightly as he could to choke him.

"Do you even remember them?" Tony hissed in a whisper.

"I remember all of them," Bucky said in a wavering voice before he kicked off the wall and took Tony plummeting with him.

Vira jumped down after them.

 _Steve?!_ Aurora called as she watched the captain throw himself into Tony.

She looked around quickly for the man amongst the dust as she held up an energy shield around herself for a moment, letting the glowing blue energy light the sudden darkness.

 _I'm fine_. He promised, his relief flooding her as her's did him. _Where's Buck?_ He asked after making sure she was okay too.

 _He and Vira are together_ , Aurora answered softy. _I can't see them, but they're together._

Steve let out a breath of relief before he felt a sharp spike of pain from Aurora, and panic flooded him. She was closer to the falling rubble than he was, and soon the tower's crumbling sides overtook him too.

* * *

As he plummeted, still gripping the Winter Soldier, Tony didn't consider what he had done, which of his opponents he might've hurt the worst, and he didn't want to. Steve was defending the man who killed his parents—his mother—and Vira was another rabid thing spawned for destruction like Bucky had been, but Aurora… who was she really defending? Bucky, Steve, or Tony himself? She was trying to stop Tony from doing something he would regret forever; killing people wasn't just something you got over in a few days—Aurora and her brother, Bruce Banner, were perfect examples of that. Both of them had done questionable things, most of the time out of their control, but that didn't mean they were free of repercussions. Tony didn't consider that Aurora was trying to keep him from making the same mistake.

Tony caught movement out of the corner of his eye just before he hit the ground, after Steve had let go and he had dropped Bucky.

"Friday," he said to his suit quickly, "direct all power to the arc reactor and take down whatever is moving over there."

"Got it, boss," the AI replied quickly and the reactor in the suit glowed and fired at the moving figure.

When he heard the cry of pain, and suddenly he felt the pain himself, however dully, he knew who he had hit. Panic welled inside Tony Stark. The almost constant feeling of protection that was dimly in the back of his mind faded to nothingness as he realized what he had done.

He might have just killed Aurora Banner, the closest thing he ever had to a younger sister.

* * *

Steve bounced off a concrete ledge and tumbled across the cold, snowy ground. He pushed himself up slowly, looking around almost in a daze to see where Bucky had landed.

The Winter Soldier was on one of the metal landings above the concrete, and Vira landed beside him. She helped Bucky back up, looking the least injured of any of the three.

 _Three?!_ Steve thought in panic. He looked around quickly, but saw Aurora nowhere, and worse than that, he couldn't feel her presence in the back of his mind anymore.

Before he could do anything beside get completely to his feet, Tony was standing again, but looking the opposite direction.

Steve saw what he was looking at and stopped breathing—Aurora, unconscious and pale with a massive burn in the center of her chest and blood running down her forehead.

Tony turned back around to look at Steve, and Steve's blue eyes couldn't do anything but glare through his fury and panic.

"This isn't gonna change anything," he told Tony in a trembling voice, trying to keep his glare. "Not for the better," he finished, some of his fury fading as new panic overtook him. He reached as far back into his own mind as he could, searching, begging, looking for any shred of Aurora's warm presence in his head. It was only cold solitude. "Is she breathing, Tony?" He asked quickly, glare breaking entirely from the billionaire as he looked back towards the unmoving woman behind Tony. He couldn't lose her too. _Not her and Lucy both. Aurora? Aurora, please…_ "Is she even alive, Tony?!" He demanded, feeling nothing but rage, rage at the man that he had once been able to call a friend.

"I don't care," Tony said shortly, looking back up at where Bucky was. "He killed my mom and she was going to let him get away." Tony didn't say anything else about Aurora, like she was just an unfortunate casualty.

Steve had been angry before, had even been furious, but that snapped something entirely new within him. He had launched himself at Tony before he even thought about it, slamming into him before the man in the metal suit got halfway to him. The swings were hard and violent from both ends, at least until Steve got Tony in a headlock and the Iron Man blasted them both backwards.

Vira landed behind Tony and swung a violent, spinning kick that dented the back of his helmet inward. She punched and kicked just as violently as Steve had, her almost inhumanly fast movements too much for Tony to even attempt to attack.

He finally landed one hard punch that sent Vira stumbling backwards.

Bucky leapt down with Steve's shield and slammed it into the back of Tony's head.

Tony blasted toward him, but Bucky blocked with the shield. Suddenly the two assassins and the good captain fell into an unmatched fighting rhythm that Tony couldn't begin to match, and could hardly block.

Steve caught his shield when it bounced off Tony's chest, and a repulsor blast that he couldn't block knocked him backwards and into the concrete wall.

Vira stepped into his place and fought ferociously beside Bucky until she was hit with a second and third repulsor blast—one grazing her shoulder and the other straight into her abdomen. She was knocked off her feet and she hit the ground hard.

Bucky swung hard with his metal arm and knocked Tony backward.

Tony reciprocated with two violent blows to Bucky's face that the Winter Soldier hardly reacted to, only enough to make him angrier. He blocked the next punches, shoving down the next of Tony's assault only to have one of his punches blocked by the man in the metal suit, and a repulsor fired at him.

Bucky shoved it away, and Tony groaned with the effort it took to try and redirect the blast toward the male assassin again. When Tony's arm was in a position that he couldn't use it for any kind of attack, Bucky slammed his metal fist into the center of Tony's chest.

Tony hit the concrete wall and Bucky lunged again, cramming his metal fingers into the center of Tony's metal chestplate, trying to rip free the arc reactor. Bucky cried out at the effort it took to fend off Tony and pull with all of his might to unhinge the reactor.

A burst of light shot from the arc reactor, and before Steve or Vira could get back to their feet to help him, the blast tore Bucky's left—metal—arm off just below the shoulder.

Vira screamed as Bucky hit a knee, blood starting to drain from his nose in a pattern she knew to be neural damage.

Tony shot him again, and Bucky flew backwards.

Steve looked at the female assassin, the only other fighter left standing, and said, "We take him together. For Aurora, and for Buck."

She nodded and they both rushed forward, shoving the shield forward together to block another repulsor blast.


	13. Chapter 12

_**The War, Part Two**_

Vira and Steve attacked Tony from both sides, one strong and one fast, and both impossible to predict. The fury between the both of them was almost unstoppable.

"You can't beat them hand-to-hand," Friday said in Tony's ear.

"Analyze their fight patterns," Tony ordered.

"I can't do both at once," Friday said quickly. "They're too different."

"Then Cap's." He said, desperately tried to block the onslaught of attacks.

"Scanning… Countermeasures ready."

"Lets kick his ass," Tony said simply, blocking Steve's attack so easily it even caught Vira off guard.

Tony did what he could to block Vira's violent blows while he laid a barrage of hits to Steve, blasting him in the stomach to finally send him to his knees.

Vira knelt beside Steve almost protectively. Any friend of Bucky's was a friend of hers, and Steve had been kind to her when others wouldn't have been. She wasn't going to let him get hurt either.

"He's my friend," Steve said breathlessly, blood leaving large dots on his cheeks.

"So was I," Tony said in almost a growl.

"So was Aurora," Steve snapped through gritted teeth.

Vira lunged, cutting off Tony from saying anything else before she drop-kicked him, sending the man in metal backwards into a concrete pillar. She slammed her fists into his helmet and chestplate so hard they left heavy bloodstained dents from her knuckles.

"Friday, scan her!" Tony called quickly, almost panickingly, but there was no reply. Vira's assault had knocked out his AI.

Finally Tony shot his repulsor, this time point black at her chest, and Vira was hurled backward into a concrete wall, bouncing off the corner.

If she hadn't had on Kevlar, she would have been in as bad a shape as Aurora, if not worse.

Tony got back to his feet and punched Steve once, and again, leaving Captain America coughing before Tony hurled him toward the corner of a concrete pillar.

Steve bounced between the two and Tony held up his working repulsor. "Stay down," the billionaire ordered. "Final warning."

Steve pushed himself back to his feet after intense struggle, bouncing as he tried to regain his composure enough to fight again. "I could do this all day," he said breathlessly.

As Steve noticed Vira push herself back up, Bucky reached over and grabbed Tony's ankle.

Tony whirled and kicked the fallen Soldier in the face.

Steve lunged from behind and grabbed Tony, who propelled himself into a pillar to crush Steve between himself and it.

"Captain," Vira called before tossing Steve his shield.

Steve caught it and placed it beside him before he grabbed Tony and slammed him into the bottom of the angled concrete pillar, then colliding fists into his face mask repeatedly. He picked up the shield and slammed it twice into Tony's mask, which broke off, and as Steve raised it again, Tony held up his arms to defend his face, though one repulsor still had power.

Steve slammed his shield into the arc reactor at Tony's chest with so much force it was lodged there without anyone to hold it vertically.

Steve panted heavily, falling off of Tony's chest as he remembered in a panic part of why he had fought so violently—Aurora.

He saw Vira rush to Bucky's side and help up the male assassin.

Steve pried free the shield from Tony's suit and moved to go find Aurora as Vira supported Bucky, despite being injured herself.

* * *

"That shield doesn't belong to you. You don't deserve it," Tony called sharply, but was suddenly sick to his stomach at realizing what he had done to people he considered his family. Was Aurora alive? "My father made that shield."

Steve paused for a moment and dropped it in the middle of the Siberian compound before he moved inside to retrieve the fallen agent.

Tony fell back from where he had tried to sit on his knees, having the sudden, horrible feeling of realizing what he had done, whom he had hurt, and whether it was worth it.


	14. Chapter 13

_**The Aftermath**_

Tony stood beside Rhodey, discussing any improvements that could be made to his new braces that could help him walk. When Rhodey fell, the conversation changed to something a little more serious.

"One-hundred thirty-eight," he said with a sigh. "One-hundred and thirty eight combat missions. Any one of them could've been my last, but I flew them. It's the same with these Accords—I signed because it was the right thing to do. And, yeah, this sucks. This is a bad beat, but it hasn't changed my mind."

Tony didn't say anything for a moment before he held out a hand to help up Rhodey.

"Have you heard anything about Aurora?" Rhodey asked after a moment of bracing against the two bars he was trying to walk between.

"No," Tony said quietly, "and, honestly, it's scaring the hell out of me. I can't help but wonder if—"

"Tony," Rhodey cut him off quickly. "You didn't kill her."

"You don't know that," Tony shook his head, swallowing hard. "She was hurt a lot in a short period of time. There's no guarantee that the buildup of them with that shot from my arc reactor didn't—"

"Tony," Rhodey said again. "You didn't kill her. Can't you feel it?" He tapped the back of his head. "She's alive. It's weak, even weaker than it usually feels when she's on the other side of the world from us, but it's there. She's not dead, man. Take a breath."

"I guess I've just been to worried about everything to really pay attention to it." Tony admitted before they both turned at a knock on the window.

An old mailman stood there. "Are you Tony… Stank?"

Rhodey smiled widely. "Yes, this is Tony Stank." He looked at Tony with a grin. "Never letting that go, by the way. Table for one, Tony Stank, by the bathrooms."

Tony laughed as he took the box from the mailman and took it to his desk. He found a letter inside and saw his name written in Steve's handwriting.

 _Tony,_

 _I'm glad you're back at the compound. I don't like the idea of you rattling around a mansion by yourself. We all need family. The Avengers are yours, maybe even more so than mine. I've been on my own since I was eighteen. I never really fit in anywhere, even in the Army. My faith is in people, I guess. Individuals. And I'm happy to say that, for the most part, they haven't let me down. Locks can be replaced, but maybe they shouldn't._

 _I hate to say it, but if I'm going to be completely honest, I didn't want to write this letter, but a voice in the back of my head—and yours—convinced me that it was worth it for you to know she was alright. I know Aurora is your family, too, Tony, and she wanted to write you herself, but her fine motor skills still need work—she experienced nerve damage from the blast. She's improving daily, though, and may be able to write you herself in the next few weeks. I know you'd much rather hear from her than me._

 _I know I hurt you, Tony. I guess I thought by not telling you about your parents I was sparing you. I can see now that I was really sparing myself. I'm sorry. Hopefully one day you can understand. I wish we agreed on the Accords, I really do, and I know Aurora hated fighting with you because she thinks as you as family too. I know you were only doing what you believe in, and that's all any of us can do, that's all any of us should. So no matter what, I promise if you need me—if you need us, I'll be there, with Aurora hot on my heels._

 _Steve_

Tony sighed as he finished it, tilting the box down to have a flip-phone slide from the bottom just as Friday informed him of an incoming call.

"Sir, priority call from Secretary Ross."

"Put him through." Tony said as he turned in his chair to look at the phone.

"Stark, there's been a breach at the raft prison—"

"Oh, please hold."

"Stark!"

He looked over the letter again, relieved and panicked all at once. Aurora was alright and improving, though she still wasn't in good shape—Steve said she'd be ready to help him alongside the captain if Tony ever needed help.

He glanced at the phone once more as he set the letter down, sighing and hoping Steve was able to get everyone else out without Aurora.

"Where are you, anyway, Rogers?" He whispered to himself, looking over the box again.


	15. Chapter 14

_**Wakanda, 2016**_

"You're doing so well, Aurora." Steve whispered, his hand brushing back some of her hair as the Wakandan doctors left her after nearly an hour of the physical therapy.

She was sweating and shaking. The left side of her body was weaker than it had been, and she had little to no movement in her arm. Her leg had improved faster, as it was much less severely damaged, and she was able to walk almost normally, without relying too heavily on her right.

"I don't feel like I am." She whispered, shaking her head and leaning against him. "Like I can't do anything at all."

He kissed her temple and closed his eyes to keep from seeing the split in her hairline. "It'll take time, Aurora. You'll get there. You're too stubborn not to."

"Very funny," she grumbled unhappily.

He smiled softly into her hair, arms still wrapped around her. "It's true though." He insisted quietly, his hand rubbing soothingly along her right arm, her left tucked almost protectively into his chest. "You're the most stubborn person I know, and you'll get better." He promised, kissing the side of her head again. "You always do."

"Like you will?"

"Hmm?" He hummed like he hadn't been paying attention to anything she said about him, still nosing softly into her brown curls.

Aurora pushed softly against his chest, only hard enough to have him feel the pressure against the burn and bone deep bruises still remaining from his own battle against Tony.

He groaned softly, sighing after a moment. "Yeah, exactly."

She rolled her heterochromic eyes before looking back at him for a moment. She closed her eyes, resting her forehead against his chest.

"You need a break?" He asked in a soft whisper.

"No, I'm good. We should keep working." She assured after another moment, struggling to move backwards to work again.

Steve sighed softly, and the doctor warned against working too much longer, or it could have adverse effects.

She worked for another hour, until she was once again shaking and sweating from the effort it took to even walk normally and raise her forearm just slightly off of a table, keeping her elbow planted. She couldn't even attempt to raised her arm to where her elbow was off the table.

Steve smiled at her again though, kissing her forehead softly before he helped her across the medical compound, his arm wrapped around her waist to support her down the hall.

"See?" He pressed quietly as they walked. "You've already improved so much. You couldn't even lift your hand yesterday." Steve reminded softly. "Who knows, tomorrow you might be able to hit me." He teased, stopping in the hall again to let her rest.

She sighed and shook her head. "It's really, really sad when raising your forearm a half-inch off the table is an improvement." She looked down coldly, like she wanted to kick at the floor and couldn't without buckling or struggling to use her left foot. She bit the inside of her lip to keep herself from saying something she'd regret.

Instead, she asked, "How's Bucky doing?"

"You can ask him yourself in a few minutes. Now don't try and change the subject," he ordered softly, gently reaching to tilt her chin up so she would have to look at him again.

"You're doing amazingly, Aurora." He whispered, brushing his thumb over her cheek. "Really. Just give it time," he urged softly, blue eyes tender. "Some wounds don't heal overnight."

"You think I don't know that?" She asked, shaking her head. "I got stabbed through the chest two years ago. Most people don't just bounce back from that, even if they are mutants. I don't heal any faster than a normal human, but that isn't what's bothering me. What's bothering me is I can't move my arm, Steve, and I can barely walk. Shoot me, stab me, I don't care, but this is more helpless than I could even imagine. I can't even feed myself." She moved her chin out of Steve's hands, closing her eyes tightly. "How can I expect to improve? How does this get better? I can't be helpless. And what really sucks is this isn't the worst of it. I'm not me anymore, not like I should be. I'm too weak to even attempt to use my powers. It's barely building. I can't sense anything, anywhere."

Steve sighed as she finished, not touching her for a moment as she leaned against the wall, eyes still closed tightly. He took her hands a second later, enveloping both of them into his own larger ones. "Aurora," he whispered, trying to get her to turn back to him as he brought her hands up to his lips. "Aurora, look at me."

She didn't for a long moment, eyes still downcast before Steve dropped nearly to his knees so he would look up at her.

"Now listen." He ordered when she finally looked at him. "You can expect to improve because I believe in you, everyone believes in you and your recovery. You're never helpless, you're still the most independent woman I know. Even now." He insisted as she gave him a disbelieving look. "It'll get better. Things always get better, Aurora. You're already getting better. And don't ever think that your powers are the only thing that make you you. Your grandmother taught me that. Powers, strength, none of it makes you who you are."

Aurora closed her eyes tightly again, trying to keep tears from falling. "It's different, Steve. They weren't always part of you." She looked down at her immovable fingers. "I miss her. I need her now." She whispered almost hoarsely.

"I know." Steve said in the same tone. "I miss her too." He assured, kissing the back of her left hand quickly. "So I'm going to be just as stubborn about this as she would be. What did your powers do to make you you? Were your powers why you like reading? Why your hair is brown?" He asked with a small smile he was trying so hard from having sadness creep into. "Why you like to experiment almost as much as Bruce?"

Aurora flinched like something had exploded behind them, and Steve looked at her with slowly dawning revelation, the pieces finally falling into place.

"You can't find Bruce anymore, can you?"

She shook her head slightly, opening her eyes to finally let her tears slip down her cheeks. "I don't have a clue where he is." She said weakly.

Steve looked at her in shock, eyes going wide, still kneeling in front of her for a long moment. "Aurora…"

She shook her head to cut him off, sniffling slightly. "I don't wanna talk about it, Steve." She whispered and he nodded quickly, taking her hands again and kissing the back of the fingers on her left hand softly.

"Maybe we should just go back to the room." He suggested after a minute, standing again to brush back hair that had fallen into her face again. "Let you rest."

"No, it's okay. I'm alright, and I know you want to go see Bucky." Aurora wiped her eyes with her movable hand. "I'm good. Pity party's over. We can go see him."

Steve looked down for a moment before looking up at her again, swallowing hard before recovering his bearings. He nodded slowly. "It wasn't a pity party. I'd be so much worse."

"Steve?" Aurora asked softly, looking at him in concern and wholly ignoring his last comment. "What is it?"

He shook his head slightly, almost like he was going to deny anything was wrong before he let out a short, almost pained laugh. "Vira fixed his arm, mostly. Still needs plated, but he can move it."

"That's not it," Aurora said, her expression unchanged.

"I thought you couldn't read my mind." Steve said softly, tilting his head down slightly towards her.

"I can't," she agreed. "But I can read you, Steve, even without my powers, and something's bothering you."

"Naturally." He shook his head again. "Buck's decided to go back under."

"He's going back into cryo?" Aurora said, blinking in surprise.

Steve nodded. "He doesn't think he can trust himself."

"Even with Vira helping him?"

"That's the other thing," Steve said softly. "Vira's going under, too. She won't stay out here without him, and she's not going to force him to live out here with us if he doesn't think he can handle it. Truth be told, I don't think she believes she could handle it either, especially if Buck isn't with her. They're going under together."

Aurora looked down softly. "I'm sorry, Steve."

"For what?" He asked, raising a blonde eyebrow.

"We're all doing what's best for ourselves without considering what it would do to you."

"All of you are in bad places. I'm just doing what I can to help."

Aurora shifted her weight to attempt to move a little closer to him, her jaw clenching at the effort it took.

"Aurora," Steve chided in surprise, quickly helping her steady herself. "What are you trying to do?"

"Hug you," she mumbled, burying her face in his shoulder when she was close enough. "You're too good a person for your own good, Steve Rogers. Give yourself a break."

He looped his fingers through hers on her left hand, and she struggled to bend them to return it. They never moved, much to Aurora's exasperation. Steve reached over with his other hand and pressed her fingers down gently.

She sighed, pressing a little closer to Steve again, relaxing against him as his arms came around her and her weight left her still partially motionless leg.

"I'll take a break when you get better." He whispered into her hair.

"It's gonna be a while, Steve," she warned softly.

"Something for you to believe in." He urged quietly. "So you know you'll get better. And when you do we can take a break." He said softly, keeping her in his arms for a moment longer. "Still want to see Buck?"

Aurora nodded quickly, still unwilling to let go of his hand—even if she could unlink her fingers.

He slipped his hand free and slid his arms beneath her, one under her knees and the other behind her shoulders, and he lifted her up as he got back to his feet. Steve placed her back down on her feet gently, supporting her as she warily tested the weight on her left foot. Once she was sure she was able to put some pressure on it again, she and Steve walked down the hall together.

* * *

Bucky and Vira were sitting side by side on a small hospital bed, his flesh hand held tightly between her own as he looked down at her with a nearly unreadable expression.

She looked back up at him almost sadly, reaching carefully up to cup his jaw, their knees brushing from where they rested side by side. "James," she started quietly, dark eyes looking over his face for another long moment. When she didn't continue, he reached up with his left hand and she nearly flinched at the feeling of the soft glove and sleeve they had slipped over the unfinished wiring of his arm, the feeling so different than the metal she had grown accustomed to after nearly six decades.

The difference was so startling she almost jumped, and Bucky looked at her with soft light eyes. "You don't have to go back under with me, Vira."

"Yes I do," she said quietly. "This world is no place for me without you by my side."

His expression took on a little sadness then, his hand still carefully on her cheek as she finally leaned into the touch. "Then we'll go together." He whispered and she closed her eyes, sighing faintly before they both turned as a door opened, Steve and Aurora entering slowly, the telepath moving with a small limp.

Bucky glanced over almost sadly. He lost an arm that was already gone, he couldn't imagine not being able to move an appendage that was still there. It had to be taunting.

Steve was there though, his arm around her waist with a patient and understanding expression every time she would stumble.

Bucky glanced back at Vira after a moment, watching as she ran her fingers carefully over the covered wiring of his hand. She had rebuilt him, and he knew that Steve would be there while Aurora was healing, he always was.

By the time the captain and telepath reached them, Vira had pulled away and Bucky scooted a little closer to the edge of the bed to greet his friend after he made sure Aurora sat.

Aurora looked at him in an expression that seemed torn between thanks and stubbornness of wanting to refuse the extra attention, even as minute as it was.

Bucky smiled slightly—he and Steve seemed to have the same taste in women. Both Aurora and Vira were intelligent, independent, beautiful, tough, and stubborn. They would never take no for an answer and they would never give up on the people they cared about, even in the worst of times. It seemed like, though the women were different in how they executed those traits, they lived by the same laws of their lives.

Steve turned back to him after a moment, smiling faintly at Bucky when he looked away from Aurora.

"You sure about this?" He asked, glancing between the twin cryo tanks on the opposite wall and both assassins.

Bucky sighed. "I can't trust my own mind, Steve. Not even with her around to keep me in line." He teased with a glance towards Vira.

The female Winter Soldier didn't say anything, she had told her reasons to Bucky, and he knew better than to expect her to share again. She did manage to lift one side of her mouth in a reassuring expression at him and he chuckled, turning back to Steve.

"So until they can figure out how to get this stuff out of my head, I think going back under is the best thing. For everybody."

Steve sighed heavily, closing his eyes for a moment before nodding. "It's your choice, Buck." He assured softly, hands in his pockets for a moment. "And you should do what you think is best for the both of you." He said with a look at the two of them again.

Bucky smiled again, nodding back at Steve gratefully before turning to Aurora. "And you take care of her, Rogers." He teased.

"She takes care of me." Steve chuckled quickly, looking tenderly at Aurora before the attending doctor stepped forward, telling the group the cryo process was ready whenever Bucky and Vira wished to go.

"Not right now, Steve," she said softly before turning to Bucky. "But I'll do what I can to keep him in line."

Bucky nodded, smiling thankfully at her.

Vira took Bucky's flesh hand and stood, and he followed suit. They each moved to separate cryo tanks, but Bucky tugged her toward him and planted a long-lasting kiss on Vira's lips.

He pulled away with a smile. "Not gonna be able to do that for a while. Figured I should get one last kiss."

Vira kissed his forehead before resting her forehead against his. "This isn't a goodbye, James. It's an _I'll see you soon_." She stepped away from him and slowly released his hand as she stepped into her tank and closed her darker than dark eyes.

Bucky stepped back into his own cryo tank and closed his blue eyes. He felt intense cold crawl over his skin before he didn't feel anything else.

* * *

Aurora watched as Steve closed his eyes for a moment, taking a breath as Bucky and Vira were frozen. She reached up slowly for his hand with her right one, squeezing his fingers gently until he looked down at her.

"They'll be alright," she promised quietly.

"I know," Steve sighed, leaning to kiss the top of her head. "I just…"

She squeezed his hand again, leaning as much as she could towards him and letting him take his moment before he turned back towards her, reaching like he might lift her from the chair.

Aurora shook her head, pulling her right hand from his and holding it up to freeze him. "I've got it." She promised with a faint smile. His little speech in the hallway doing more than he probably realized to motivate her, even if it was only for the possibility that Steve would let himself take a break for more than thirty seconds.

He raised an eyebrow. "You sure?"

She nodded, pushing up with her right arm and tucking her right leg closer beneath her to leverage herself up. She bounced a little to regain her balance, still relying more on her right leg than she should have been, but she was up.

She looked up at him and smiled. "See?"

Steve smiled slightly. "I'm impressed. But don't stress yourself. Remember, the doctor said that if you do too much it can make you backtrack."

"Very good," a new, accented voice said from behind them. T'Challa had joined them in the room. "How are you feeling, agent?"

She smiled at him. "Thanks to your hospitality, I'm improving. Or so I've been told."

He smiled and nodded. "Anytime." He glanced at the cryo-tanks before turning to Steve. "They will be safe here, Captain. The Black Panther had protected my people for generations. Your friends will be no different. They have been victims of a life no one should live through. We will do all we can to help them."

"Thank you," Steve said softly.

"And Captain," T'Challa said as he turned to leave. "You and Aurora are welcome here any time."

Steve nodded again, smiling slightly before he moved back to Aurora's side. He laid his chin on top of her head and wrapped his arms around her waist, looking out to the jungle surroundings of the advanced society they had been welcomed into, all the way to the large panther statue.


End file.
